Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison in his hush-money case by a judge who called him a "serial child molester" and ordered him to enroll in a sex-offender treatment program.
The onetime Republican power broker was not charged with any sexual crimes because of the statute of limitations, but he pleaded guilty to making illegal cash withdrawals to pay off one of his accusers.
"Nothing is worse than using serial child molester and speaker of the house in the same sentence," said the judge, who used his discretion to go well beyond the six-month prison term prosecutors had recommended.
"I hope I never see a case like this again."
Hastert also received at $250,000 fine and two years supervised release.
