Today Federal District Judge Thomas M. Durkin sentenced former United States Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert to 15 months in prison for violating bank reporting rules by structuring bank withdrawals to hide massive payments he made over the years to one of his victims of child sexual abuse. See http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/28/us/dennis-hastert-sentencing.html?emc=edit_na_20160427&nlid=67236899&ref=cta&_r=0
Hastert ultimately admitted to being a serial molester of boys when he was the high school wrestling coach at Yorkville High School in Yorkville, Illinois. Oh, and guess what? The married father of two sons also was a Boy Scout volunteer with Explorer Post 540 of Yorkville for 17 years, during the time he was a high school teacher and coach. The sex crimes were well outside the statute of limitations, but federal prosecutors went after Hastert on the banking law violations and for lying to investigators.
“Nothing is more stunning than having ‘serial child molester’ and ‘speaker of the House’ in the same sentence,” said Judge Durkin. It’s not at all stunning to me. Having read the very meager Michigan State Police file on their investigation into the pedophile and child pornography ring operating in Michigan in the 1970’s on North Fox Island, this is no shock, no surprise. And it should not be a shock that people like this have the power to silence their victims and anyone who might make trouble for them. What’s stunning is that federal prosecutors and this federal judge were not the cowards that Oakland County prosecutors and judges were and are. They went after Hastert and in some small way vindicated Hastert’s victims.
“Judge Durkin pointed out the vulnerability of Mr. Hastert’s young victims and said they were damaged for years. ‘If there’s a public shaming of the defendant because of the conduct he’s engaged in, so be it,’ he said.” Wow. What a concept. Can you imagine the shame Hastert’s victims have carried for decades after being raped and sexually abused by him?
I guess the real “Hastert Rule” is: If you want to molest boys, your best bet is to be a high school wrestling coach and boy scout volunteer. It’s so obvious, no one will believe it. At least he had to pay one of his victims a ton of dough over the past decades. Hey Denny: The majority of the majority now knows who you really are.
This is so disgusting on so many levels. I am so happy
Jessie
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Continued… I am just happy that Judge Durkin has done the right thing. How Hastert pays off his victim under the radar – was the payouts in paper bags laundered through many hands? I would love to follow that trail. I just really hope that there is a change in head prosecutor in Oakland County this year!
Jessie
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Catherine, Did you ever hear the former Head of the FBI talk about his investigation of pedophile rings in the United States. Very controversial, but much of what he said was backed up with facts/reports etc. Hassert was probably part of it. Watch “Retired HEAD OF FBI Tells ALL “Illuminati, Satanism, Pedophile Rings”” on YouTube https://youtu.be/BplUD6kQYuU I hope your family learns the truth. Daniel J. Flynn Message Sent Via Mobile Phone
I watched this YouTube video, daniel and none of it surprises me. Ted L. Gundersen (now deceased) describes himself in this speech as a conspiracy realist, not a conspiracy theorist. Somehow in our society “conspiracy” has been conflated with “falsehood.” We ignore these things at our peril. Agree with your observation about Hastert–at a minimum, guys like this–who had plenty of power–look the other way when others are exposed for this type of behavior. If you want your skin to crawl and your faith in humanity diminished, read The Franklin Cover-Up: Child Abuse, Santanism, and Murder in Nebraska, by former state Senator John DeCamp. The first edition was published in 1996. A fourth printing, in 2006, details numerous updates and developments since the first Franklin Cover-Up edition. The book is dedicated “TO THE CHILDREN WHO HAVE BEEN, OR WILL BE, ABUSED BECAUSE OF THE FRANKLIN COVER-UP.”
Also read The Franklin Scandal, A Story of Powerbrokers, Child Abuse & Betrayal, by Nick Bryant (2009). The book is aptly described as “[a] tragic tale that tears at your hear and rips your soul, . . . the true story of a child-pandering network and the masking of its very existence through a massive cover-up orchestrated from the utmost pinnacle of power–using the CIA, FBI, Secret Service and a corrupt judicial process.” The book’s epigraph is a quote attributed to Sir Edmund Burke, and is a statement I have known in my gut since I was 17 years old to be true: “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” All it takes is a few cowards to turn the world on its head and make what’s wrong “ok.” Everyone else goes along. It’s crazy.
Hello,
My name is Joe Mordarski and I was a friend and pen pal of Tim’s. We had a cottage on Higgins lake and your family stayed in an adjacent cottage.
I recently moved and found a letter your mom wrote to me after Tim was taken. With the funeral card. Still pisses me off that this didn’t get solved.
Still think about it every day. The shock of delivering the Daily Tribune and seeing Tim’s “story” unfold.
Anyway I hope you get this and if you ever want to talk I’m at 248 808 2089.
Sent from my iPhone
Thank you very much, Joe. I appreciate this.
This Judge did what is politically correct. Fifteen month sentence is beans.
Don’t forget that the statute of limitations had long expired on his criminal sexual assaults. The feds were stuck going after him for bank structuring transaction violations and lying to investigators (and also apparently trying to intimidate one of his victims). Federal sentencing guidelines recommend no prison time for the banking crimes, or up to 6 months incarceration. The court rejected his attorneys’ pleas for no prison time and gave him 15 months; more than twice the recommended sentence for simple bank transaction structuring to avoid reporting requirements. The judge took this fuck on and made him face what he did. Of course he gets to go to a “prison hospital” instead of the Big, Big House. And of course this fuckstick developed a series of illnesses after this all came to light last year, including having a stroke and developing blood stream and spinal infections. No surprise there. Needs a wheelchair to get to court and a walker to stand and address the court? Makes perfect sense. What an asshole. As the judge observed, “Some actions can obliterate a lifetime of good works.” Ya think?!
It is unbelievable that he got away with that for so long! May he rot in hell!
It looks to me like the boys in the country club are lashing one of their own with a wet noodle. Fifteen months for what he did is clearly a backroom deal between good ol boys. Anyone outside the club would be crucified.
Dale, see my response to Cindy c. The Club protected him and others for years. It always has and always will try. To the people who wrote letters to the judge asking for leniency and supporting Hastert–fuck you. You should be supporting the victims who came forward to face this fuck in court. Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Tom “Elections Violations” DeLay??? Seriously??) wrote the judge to say “[Hastert] doesn’t deserve what he is going through.” Sorry, Tom, I think deep down even Big Denny knows he deserves far worse.
Political establishment: cynical, corrupt, decadent and ineffective.
Police/law enforcement: totally militarized and out of control. (Legal/judicial establishment plays along.)
Banking/Wall Street: exists to fleece the yokels out of everything, wages, homes, medical care, pensions.
Military/defense contractor nexus: see above.
Religion: ha ha ha, oldest scam around. (Voltaire had them pegged as perverts to be avoided 250 years ago.)
Political consciousness: gimme a break.
Conclusion: Todo es mentira en este mundo.
It’s plain as the nose on my face. Sex offenders who like kids worm their ways into positions and jobs where they can be in close contact with them. Up until now American society has been blithely unhip to that fact. But it’s plain as the nose on my face. Be PARANOID about every man to whom you place trust for your kids. Think twice about it every time and ask the other parents questions that can reveal what they have seen and heard. This is not Mayberry.
Two counties to the west of Yorkville another “beloved” Boy Scout official (I forget the scout term for head of the region), Chuck “I Care About the Boys” Bickerstaff was working in a pedophile smorgasbord of his own, courtesy of the BSA.
From KFPlegal.com:
Boy Scout Leader With 20 Year History of Sexually Abusing Underage Boys
Jailed 1/10/2008
A former Boy Scout leader has recently been accused of sexually abusing two Rockford teens. Charles “Chuck” Bickerstaff was arrested on multiple charges of child molestation relating to the abuse of the two teens and is currently being held in the Lee County Jail, in Dixon, Illinois, on a $3.5 million bond.
Police found six diaries, consisting of approximately 800 pages that were kept by Bickerstaff and detailed more than 20 years of sexual relationships with several underage boys. Each diary recounts details of sexual assaults against boys dating back to the late 1980’s. Over a span of 33 years, the length of Bickerstaff’s tenure with the Boy Scouts, Bickerstaff has allegedly abused boys in Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Michigan, and abroad. According to authorities, the Bickerstaff’s diary may lead to additional molestation charges.
Bickerstaff was sentenced to 80 years. He isn’t a rich man, he had no political power. The brave victim who came forward to nail this dude exposed a decades long secret life where countless kids were abused.
The point of this post though is this: Many people; leaders, parents and even kids were suspicious of Chuck. There was talk about about him and it was brought up to local BSA officials (who are, themselves, volunteers) but NO ONE wanted to pursue it. It was easier to turn a head to the possibilities and leave things status quo than to face them. When money, power and social standing enter the mix, the ability to bury it all is even easier. Hastert had the money and the advantage of the law (in the statute of limitations) on his side. His sentence may seem like a hand slap but at least they didn’t decide that his transgressions are over and in his old age he is harmless and sweep the whole thing away.
On a side note – the extent of Chuck Bickerstaff’s abuses came out at the sentencing hearing and are discussed here but if you were to ask anyone who was involved in scouting in the county during the later 2000s, I’d bet less than 25% would even know this occurred because it wasn’t well reported either.
http://www.saukvalley.com/2009/05/28/bickerstaff-sentenced-to-80-years-attorney-plans-to-appeal-conviction/afe0204/?page=1
Cathy-
I am a Mom of two, I grew up in Westland, I am 50, I remember everything and never forgot what happened and that the case was never solved. I had no idea this was happening until the reporting started years ago. I have read your blog and follow your father on Facebook.
As many do I support your family. I will continue everyday to pray for resolution and peace for your family, you have my deepest sympathy.
I can not fathom waking up every day having knowledge that you were covering up the murders and abuse of innocent children? How can they look you in the eye and blatantly lie and dismiss you? It is beyond my comprehension, despicable, cowards, there are know words for all of them.. They will get in the end one way or another- that’s also what I pray for!
Stay strong- keep fighting.
Suzanne
Dear Barry and Catherine,
I have consistently followed both of your blogs and admire your courage, perseverance, and determination in seeking justice for your brother, all victims of the OCCK, and other victims of abuse. In the mid-1970s, I attended Power Junior High, which off Gill Road a half-mile from where your poor son/brother’s body was found. These tragic unsolved cases will stay with me forever. Your family is in my thoughts and prayers.
Sincerely,
Pete
Hi Cath- This is GREAT. Those muther fuck’s at Oakland County…..