Hastert faces sex-offender treatment with prison release

Hastert could potentially put himself in legal jeopardy if he refuses any of the tests or doesn’t appear to be forthcoming about any instances of abuse, said Francey Hakes, a former special assistant to the U.S. attorney general overseeing Justice Department child-exploitation units.

If he doesn’t co-operate fully, a judge could send him back to prison; but if he admits to other cases, that could open new investigations, she said.

“It is a Catch-22 of sex offender treatment,” she said in a telephone interview.

Hastert, one of the highest-ranking U.S. politicians to ever go to prison, was the nation’s longest-serving GOP House speaker, second in the line to the presidency from 1999 to 2007 under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He pleaded guilty in 2015 to violating banking law in seeking to pay $3.5 million in hush money to keep the sex abuse secret. While the molestation of children underpinned the case, Hastert couldn’t be charged with sexual abuse because the statutes of limitations had long since run out.

Unless Hastert participates fully and honestly in the treatment program — including by admitting an attraction to children — Hakes said there would be reason to think he still is a risk.

“If I was a relative or lived in his community, I wouldn’t leave him alone around my children,” Hakes said.

Because Hastert wasn’t convicted of child abuse, he is not required to register as a sex offender. However, federal officials could choose to notify Hastert’s victims or local authorities to make them aware he is out of prison.

Maia Christopher, the executive director of the Association For The Treatment Of Sexual Abusers, says treatment can also include looking back at abusers’ childhoods, considering whether mental illness is a factor and assessing whether their social networks can play a role in preventing further abuse.

Scott Cross, who testified at Hastert’s sentencing hearing that Hastert abused him as a teen, said Tuesday that he didn’t ask to be notified of Hastert’s release from prison and remains intent on moving on with his life. Cross still believes Hastert’s sentence was a “slap on the wrist” but doesn’t fault federal authorities.

“I don’t have any control over this stuff,” he told The Associated Press. “I did what I thought was right for me. I’m not going to look back on it.”

Judge Thomas M. Durkin branded Hastert “a serial child molester” during his sentencing in Chicago, pointing to at least four students abused by Hastert when he coached at Yorkville High School, from 1965 to 1981.

Cross, a former wrestler, testified that he was abused when he was in the school locker room. Court filings describe how Hastert would also sit in a recliner in the high school locker room with a direct view of the showers.

Experts disagree on the extent to which sex-offender treatment can help. Jim Clemente, a former FBI supervisory agent who frequently testifies in child sex-abuse cases, says analysts often try to determine whether an abuser is sexually attracted to children or is what he called “a situational offender” who isn’t necessarily motivated by an attraction to kids.

“There is no cure for the former,” he said.

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Associated Press reporters Michael Kunzelman and Don Babwin contributed to this report.

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Caryn Rousseau And Michael Tarm, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Hastert faces sex-offender treatment with prison release

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