Exclusive: Alleged Dennis Hastert Sex Abuse Victim Is Named By Family
Source: ABC
In Steve Reinboldts 1970 high school yearbook, wrestling coach Dennis Hastert wrote that Steve was his great, right hand man as the student equipment manager of the Yorkville, Illinois wrestling team.
But Steve was also a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of Hastert, Steves sister said today in an interview with ABC News. It is the first time an alleged Hastert victim has been identified by name since his indictment for lying to the FBI and violating federal banking laws to cover-up past misconduct. Hastert, due in court next week, has not responded to the allegations.
Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/exclusive-alleged-dennis-hastert-sex-abuse-victim-named/story?id=31530828
Response to LiberalElite (Original post)
yeoman6987 This message was self-deleted by its author.
FarPoint
(12,487 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Could you point me to the part of the article which says that.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,424 posts)Where did you get the detail that it was someone's parents getting the money, and not another victim? It's not this boy's parents, anyway.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)The OP is an article about a man who died in 1995.
The indictment alleges payments to "Individual A" who was a victim of abuse.
This family - the one in the article - did not receive one red cent, and you have maligned people who have nothing to do with Hastert's payments.
The fact that, when asked to point to a source of what you were saying, you just do some vague handwaving, appears to indicate that you know this man's parents have nothing to do with the payments.
So, what exactly was your purpose for maligning this woman and her family?
Kingofalldems
(38,520 posts)waddirum
(980 posts)not necessarily the one doing the blackmail. It sounds like there were multiple victims, one of whom is getting the payoffs.
waddirum
(980 posts)TexasBushwhacker
(20,257 posts)Her brother died of AIDS 20 years ago. He is not "Individual A" who has been taking money. There is no mention of the parents taking a payout. Individual A is probably ANOTHER victim.
Princess Turandot
(4,791 posts)she may have felt that revealing Hastert's abuse of a specific person at this point speaks to the truth of the matter more than it harms her bro's memory.
NJCher
(35,843 posts)Because it implies there is only one abuse victim, but I think we see now there are more. Wow, this could even more of a story if more and more victims start speaking out.
Look how long it took with the Roman Catholic Church and also with Bill Cosby!
I can truly understand the frustration of Jolene, the victim's sister. It must have been hard seeing him as the Speaker, all the while getting rich beyond most people's wildest dreams. Finally her day has come.
I've been thinking about Hastert and what it must have been like for him all those years. In this article, we see that Jolene confronted him and told him she knew. He had to be fearful this would come out at some point. He led a life of lies: lies, everywhere--to his family, at his work, and about his past. What a hellish life.
Cher
LiberalElite
(14,691 posts)it's one victim's mother talking about her son.
rocktivity
(44,588 posts)...Reinboldt died of AIDS in 1995...
(A)n ally/relative of the victim...would be just as dangerous to Hastert as the actual victim -- especially if he possessed irrefutable evidence. It would also explain why no one has been charged with blackmailing Hastert as of yet, and why it took so long for the blackmailing to start.
Rocktivity, 5/30/15
Whoever put the squeeze on Hastert should have done it through a lawyer, which would had made it perfectly legal. And if Hastert had told the FBI the truth, he could have charged Individual A with blackmail AND avoided being charged himself.
Hooray for me.
rocktivity
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)You seem to believe that the man identified in the article is the person somehow related to the payments.
There is no basis in fact for that conclusion.
Pedophiles typically have more than one victim.
What is it that makes you believe Individual A is not some other victim entirely?
Your conclusion is unsupported, and probably wrong for the simple reason that the federal indictment says that Individual A WAS the person who received payments, and also was the victim of the misconduct.
And, no, conducting blackmail through a lawyer does not make it legal.
Furthermore, an agreement not to pursue a civil lawsuit in exchange for payment is not blackmail.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)sofa king
(10,857 posts)mainer
(12,038 posts)How sad that the news agencies knew of the allegations, but they believed Hastert.
"In the two decades after Steves death, Jolene said that she tried to expose Hastert, even writing to ABC News and another news organization as well as some advocacy groups in 2006 after another congressman, Rep. Mark Foley, was discovered having sexually explicit message exchanges with an underage male page.
At the time ABC News could not corroborate Jolene's allegation and Hastert denied the claim."
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)If I had a tin foil hat I'd be wondering what the PTB are trying to bury by letting this come out now.
chervilant
(8,267 posts)"sexual misconduct." Hastert sexually abused children while he was in a position of power over them. Laws need to be changed to prevent these vile abusers from escaping consequences for their crimes simply because "too many years have gone by." We will not be a truly child-centric society until we make every effort to protect our younglings from adult predators like Hastert.
complendio
(14 posts)Big time.
Angel Martin
(942 posts)almost universal with these molesters is that there are multiple victims.
whoever was putting the squeeze on hastert may have nothing to do with Steve Reinboldt.
in fact, it seems likely that a third party who knew about hastert and reinboldt wouldn't have proof, and hastert would just brazen it out (like with the sister), and not pay millions of dollars.
my guess is that there are more victims to come forward.