--- title: Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert Abused 4 Boys: Prosecutors description: Justice Department prosecutors said Friday that former House speaker Dennis Hastert abused four young boys when he was their wrestling coach canonical: https://time.com/4287547/dennis-hastert-acused-abuse-justice-department/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-09T12:30:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:36:08.753Z article:section: U.S. og:title: Former House Speaker Hastert Abused 4 Boys: Prosecutors og:description: Prosecutors are asking that he serve up to six months in prison og:url: https://time.com/4287547/dennis-hastert-acused-abuse-justice-department/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d0027e52d726b21/69888e663c1639c95345cc8c/dennis-hastert.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Dennis Hastert accused of sexual abuse by at least 4, sources say og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Former House Speaker Hastert Abused 4 Boys: Prosecutors twitter:description: Prosecutors are asking that he serve up to six months in prison twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d0027e52d726b21/69888e663c1639c95345cc8c/dennis-hastert.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert Abused 4 Boys, Prosecutors Say by [Pete Williams/NBC](/author/nbc-news/) ## Pete Williams/NBC Apr 9, 2016 12:30 PM CUT  Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert leaves after guilty plea at Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on Oct. 28, 2015 in Chicago. Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert leaves after guilty plea at Dirksen U.S. Courthouse on Oct. 28, 2015 in Chicago.Zbigniew Bzdak—Chicago Tribune/Getty Images by [Pete Williams/NBC](/author/nbc-news/) ## Pete Williams/NBC Apr 9, 2016 12:30 PM CUT Justice Department prosecutors said Friday that former House speaker Dennis Hastert abused four young boys when he was their wrestling coach, and urged that he be ordered to serve up to six months in prison when he’s sentenced later this month. While Hastert has pleaded guilty to a financial violation, prosecutors said, “the actions at the core of this case took place not on the defendant’s national public stage but in his private one-on-one encounters in an empty locker room and a motel room with minors that violated the special trust between those young boys and their coach.” For the. . . [_Read the rest of the story from our partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/prosecutors-urge-prison-sentence-dennis-hastert-n553331?cid=par-time%5F20160409 "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4287547/dennis-hastert-acused-abuse-justice-department/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4287547/dennis-hastert-acused-abuse-justice-department/"},"headline":"Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert Abused 4 Boys, Prosecutors Say","datePublished":"2016-04-09T12:30:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:36:08.753Z","description":"Prosecutors are asking that he serve up to six months in prison","url":"https://time.com/4287547/dennis-hastert-acused-abuse-justice-department/","keywords":["Crime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d0027e52d726b21/69888e663c1639c95345cc8c/dennis-hastert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Pete Williams/NBC"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9d0027e52d726b21/69888e663c1639c95345cc8c/dennis-hastert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dennis Hastert accused of sexual abuse by at least 4, sources say","caption":"Dennis Hastert accused of sexual abuse by at least 4, sources say","creditText":"Zbigniew Bzdak—Chicago Tribune/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4287547/dennis-hastert-acused-abuse-justice-department/","name":"Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert Abused 4 Boys, Prosecutors Say"}}]}] ```