Politics & Government
Alleged Hastert Sex Abuse Victim Named
The former Yorkville man was student equipment manager for the high school wrestling team. His sister spoke to ABC News.

Photo: Dennis Hastert poses with alleged victim Steve Reinboldt in this 1970 Yorkville High School Yearbook photo.
One of former congressman and Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert’s alleged sexual abuse victims has come to light after the man’s sister broke the news in an interview with ABC News this morning.
Steve Reinboldt worked as the student equipment manager for the Yorkville wrestling team and was Hastert’s “great, right hand man” according to a message Hastert had written in Reinboldt’s 1970 yearbook.
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In 1979, Reinboldt came out to his sister, Jolene.
“I asked him, when was your first same sex experience. He looked at me and said, ‘It was with Dennis Hastert,’” Jolene said. “I was stunned.”
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Jolene 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?’”
When Reinboldt died of AIDS in 1995, Hastert showed up to the funeral.
“I was just there just trying to bite my tongue thinking that blood was coming out because I was just … So after he had gone through the line I followed him out into the parking lot of the funeral home,” Jolene told ABC News. “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.”
Jolene said to ABC News that Hastert’s non-response said everything. Hastert then got in his car and drove away.
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This isn’t the first time Jolene has tried to make Hastert’s actions known. In 2006, she reached out to news organizations in order to make her brother’s story known, but no one would listen to her.
ABC News reports that it could not corroborate her story at the time and that Hastert denied the claims.
Two weeks ago, Jolene received a message from the FBI saying they’d like to talk about Hastert.
“That’s when I just kind of lost it and said, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe – I never thought I was going to get this phone call… I thought it was over,’” she said.
Since then, Jolene has watched what she’s been working to achieve finally happen.
“There are no words to describe what it felt like, to, you, know, it’s just like Stevie had done it. It’s gonna happen, we got him,” she told ABC News.
» WATCH the ABC News video report: Dennis Hastert Molested Yorkville High Student for Years
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