A Montana woman says her brother was sexually abused by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert during the years when the GOP leader was a wrestling coach at a suburban Chicago high school.
Jolene Burdge of Billings told The Associated Press on Thursday that the FBI interviewed her last month about Hastert, who was charged last week in a federal indictment alleging that he agreed in 2010 to pay $3.5 million to someone so that person would stay quiet about “prior misconduct.”
She said her brother told her before he died in 1995 that his first homosexual contact was with Hastert and that it lasted throughout his high school years.
Stephen Reinboldt attended Yorkville High School, where Hastert was a history teacher and coach from 1965 to 1981.
In an interview aired Friday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Burdge said Hastert had been a father figure to her brother but also caused him irreparable harm.
“He damaged Steve, I think, more than any of us will ever know,” she told the morning show.
The AP could not independently verify her allegations.
A person familiar with the allegations in the indictment has told The AP that the payments mentioned in the document were intended to conceal claims that the Illinois Republican sexually molested someone decades ago.
Hastert has not been charged with sexual abuse. But Burdge’s story indicates there could be more victims beyond the “Individual A” named in the indictment.
Stephen Reinboldt’s brother, Daniel, who still lives in Yorkville, refused to talk to The AP about whether his brother was abused by Hastert. Another sister, Carol, of Lakewood, did not reply to messages.
