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News Friday June 5th, 2015, 10:34am

Woman Identifies Her Brother As Hastert's Alleged Sexual Abuse Victim

The sister of an alleged victim of former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert says her late brother was sexually abused by Hastert while a student in Yorkville. 

The woman, Jolene Burdge, says she was interviewed in May by the federal authorities about accusations that Hastert, who was a Yorkville high school wrestling coach and teacher from 1965 to 1981, abused her brother, Stephen Reinbolt.

Burdge said she learned of the alleged misconduct after Reinbolt, who graduated from Yorkville High School in 1971, came out to her as gay after high school. In 1995, Reinbolt died of AIDS.

"I asked him, when was your first same-sex experience. He looked at me and said, 'It was with Dennis Hastert,'" Burdge said in an interview with ABC News. "I was stunned."

While a high school student, Reinbolt was a manager of the wrestling team coached by Hastert.

"Here was the mentor, the man who was, you know, basically his friend and stepped into that parental role, who was the one who was abusing him," Burdge said of Hastert. "He damaged Steve I think more than any of us will ever know."

Hastert, 73, was indicted last week for allegedly paying an individual hush money for their silence on his previous sexual misconduct. The former congressman is also charged with lying to the FBI about the purpose of his cash withdrawals, which were made to pay off the alleged victim. Hastert's arraignment is scheduled for June 9.

The indictment does not identify the person who was allegedly being paid by Hastert, simply referring to him or her as "Individual A." Burdge said she is unaware of the identify of Individual A, but that she thinks the person knows about her brother's alleged abuse. 

 

Sources

  • News links: 
    ABC News
    Associated Press

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Tags

  • Abuse
  • Corruption
  • Federal Court
  • Federal government
  • Indictment
  • Misconduct
  • Sexual abuse

Public figures

  • Dennis Hastert

Level of gov't

  • Federal Government

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