The sister of a now-deceased Illinois man has identified him as an alleged victim of sexual abuse at the hands of Dennis Hastert, according to reports.
Steve Reinboldt was abused thoughout his high school years while serving as the equipment manager of the wrestling team coached by Hastert in Yorkville, Illinois, Jolene Burdge told ABC News and The Associated Press.
RELATED: Source: Hastert charges stem from sex with student
A friend of Reinboldt, who did not want to be named, told NBC News that Reinboldt told him he had sexual contact with Hastert.
“I was hanging out at Steve’s house in December 1974, I seem to recall we went for a drive and he told me that he was gay. He also said that his first sexual encounter was with Denny Hastert,” the friend said.
The friend said Reinboldt did not provide any details of the sexual contact beyond that it happened when Reinboldt was a student.
Reinboldt graduated from Yorkville High School in 1971, his sister told ABC, and died in 1995 from complications resulting from AIDS.
Hastert was indicted last week on charges that he structured bank withdrawals to avoid federal reporting requirements and later lied about it to the FBI. NBC News has made repeated attempts to reach Hastert without success.
Federal law enforcement sources have told NBC News that Hastert was paying a man to keep him quiet about allegations of sexual misconduct while Hastert was a high school teacher in Yorkville.
Hastert taught history and was also the wrestling coach at Yorkville High School from 1965 to 1981 while the man he was paying was a student.
The man, called “Individual A” in court documents, has not been named publicly. Federal authorities say Hastert agreed in 2010 to pay him $3.5 million to cover up “prior misconduct,” according to the indictment. Hastert represented his Illinois congressional district from 1987 to 2007, and served as House speaker for eight years. He has not appeared publicly since the indictment was handed down. He is due to make a court appearance on the charges Tuesday in Chicago. Many of those who wrestled under Hastert’s coaching say they had no inkling of any inappropriate behavior and had not even heard any rumors about his sexuality. “I was on the wrestling team four years and I’m shocked at the allegations, and I certainly have no idea who would have made an allegation like that,” Robert Goins, a minister who graduated in 1970, told NBC News. “I never would have seen it coming.” This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com.
Tracy Connor Recommended
