Former Congressman Dennis Hastert, a Republican leader whose political career collapsed after he was accused of molesting five boys, has died.
Hastert, who served as speaker of the House from 1999 to 2007, died over the weekend at the age of 84, according to the Kendall County Coroner’s Office.
The coroner’s office listed his cause of death as natural causes.
Hastert once held one of the most powerful positions in Washington, presiding over the House for the better part of a decade as a top Republican leader. But his legacy was ultimately defined not by his time wielding the speaker’s gavel, but by the scandal that brought his career to a disgraceful end.
That downfall came when five men came forward and accused Hastert of molesting them during his years as a teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School in Illinois in the 1960s.
The allegations painted a disturbing picture of Hastert’s conduct during that period. Among the claims made against him was that he regularly pulled up a “‘Lazyboy’-type chair” in direct view of the shower stalls in the locker room, where he sat while the boys showered, the Chicago Sun-Times reported at the time.
In 2015, Hastert was charged with a felony in connection with $3.5 million in so-called hush money payments to victims, money tied to an effort to cover up his crimes.
However, prosecutors were unable to bring charges against Hastert for sexual misconduct itself. By the time the allegations came to light, the statute of limitations had already lapsed, putting the alleged abuse beyond the reach of a criminal case.
Even so, the court did not hold back in its assessment of the former speaker. During a subsequent court hearing, Illinois Northern District Judge Thomas M. Durkin called Hastert a “serial child molester.”
The stinging description from the bench marked a stunning moment for a man who had once stood near the very top of American political power, second in line to the presidency during his time as speaker.
In 2016, Hastert was convicted of deceptively collecting payouts intended for his victims. He was sentenced to 15 months in prison.
The conviction capped a dramatic fall from grace for the Illinois Republican, whose name became tied far more closely to the allegations from his days at Yorkville High School than to his years leading the House.
For the five men who came forward, the case represented a public reckoning with conduct that, according to their accounts, dated back decades to Hastert’s time coaching wrestling and teaching in Illinois in the 1960s.
Hastert’s death closes the final chapter on a career that rose to the heights of congressional leadership before ending in scandal and a federal prison sentence.
He was 84.
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