Reports: Sister names alleged Hastert abuse victim
The sister of a former student equipment manager at the Yorkville, Ill., high school where former House speaker Dennis Hastert taught is the first person to step forward to name one of his alleged sexual abuse victims.
Hastert, 73, was charged last week in a federal indictment that alleges he agreed to pay $3.5 million to someone from Yorkville, the Illinois town where he taught and coached high school wrestling, so the person would stay quiet about "prior misconduct."
The indictment mentions only an "Individual A" as the person involved, but does not spell out the nature of the purported misconduct.
In the first naming of an alleged victim, Jolene Burdge of Billings, Mont., tells ABC News that her brother, Steve Reinboldt, who died of AIDS in 1995, confided to her that he was the victim of four years of sexual abuse by Hastert, who was teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High from 1965 to 1981.
In addition, Burdge told the Associated Press Thursday that the FBI had interviewed her about her allegations, which she says she had tried for years to give to the media.
Burdge says she never asked for money from Hastert, but believes that the unidentified "Individual A" is familiar with what happened with her brother. She also tells ABC News she does not know who Individual A is, but is thankful that Hastert's alleged misconduct is coming to light.
A federal law enforcement official told Paste BN that there is no indication that Burdge sought to contact federal authorities regarding allegations about Hastert's involvement with her brother decades ago before agents contacted her last month.
Nor is there any evidence, said the official who is not authorized to comment publicly on the matter, that Burdge ever sought compensation from Hastert.
The official said it wasn't immediately clear how agents were directed to Burdge or what relevance, if any, the information she provided has on the pending criminal case against the former speaker.
Hastert, a 10-term congressman who served as House speaker from 1999 to 2007, will appear in court next week on the fraud charges. Hastert and his representatives have repeatedly declined to comment on the allegations, including to ABC News for its latest report.
Jolene Burdge did not respond to several messages from Paste BN. On her Facebook page, a May 28 post includes both a photograph of Hastert and a report about the federal indictment brought against him.
The counsel at Hastert's former D.C. lobbying firm did not respond to messages Friday.
Reinboldt was student equipment manager for the wrestling team in the early 1970s. He made his purported claims about Hastert in 1979 when confiding to his sister that he was gay.
She said that at one point she asked him when he had his first homosexual experience. "He looked at me and said, 'It was with Dennis Hastert,'" Burdge said. "I was stunned."
Burdge said she asked her brother why he never told anyone. "And he just turned around and kind of looked at me and said, 'Who is ever going to believe me?'"
In Reinboldt's 1970 high school yearbook, Hastert wrote that Steve was his "great, right hand man" as the student equipment manager for the Yorkville wrestling team.
Burdge said Hastert "had plenty of opportunities to be alone with Steve," who worked closely with him at out-of-town meets and worked late to get uniforms ready for the team.
Bob Brettelle, 63, a former Yorkville High School student who was on the wrestling team when Reinboldt was the manager, confirmed to Paste BN that Reinboldt would sometimes stay late after practices with Hastert to wash towels or deal with equipment. Brettelle, however, stressed that he had never heard or seen any misconduct by Hastert.
Brettelle recalled Reinboldt as being well liked by the wrestlers.
"He was one of the littler guys at school, so managing was a way for him to stay involved in sports" said Brettelle, who graduated in 1970. "We always considered him part of the team, because it was always stressed -- not just by Hastert but all the coaches at the school — that it was about a team effort. And he was part of the team."
Burdge said she confronted Hastert with the allegations in a parking lot in 1995 after he attended Steve's funeral.
"I said, 'I want to know why you did what you did to my brother.' And he just stood there and stared at me. He didn't say, 'What are you talking about?' you know, (or), 'What? I don't know what you're talking about.' He just stood there and stared at me.
"Then I just continued to say, 'I want you to know your secret didn't die in there with my brother. And I want you to remember that I'm out here and that I know.' And again, he just stood there and he did not say a word."
Burdge said Hastert got in his car and drove away. His non-response, she tells ABC News, "said everything."
Burdge alleges that Hastert has played the role of mentor, friend and parent while abusing her brother. "He damaged Steve I think more than any of us will ever know," she tells ABC News.
Hastert is scheduled to be arraigned in federal court in Chicago on Tuesday.
Contributing: Kevin Johnson in Washington