ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune
Christy Gutowski
Chicago Tribune
Months after confronting his famous high school wrestling coach during a bombshell court appearance, the man identified as Individual D in a scandalous federal case against former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert is once again speaking out publicly, this time urging Illinois lawmakers to eliminate the statute of limitations for certain child sex crimes.
Scott Cross is expected to testify Tuesday in downtown Chicago before a state Senate committee considering legislation that gets rid of the deadlines for prosecuting more than two dozen felony crimes involving sexual offenses against children. The crimes include aggravated criminal sexual abuse and assault and indecent solicitation of a child, trafficking, child pornography and grooming.
In the Hastert case, federal prosecutors cited the expired statute of limitations as the reason they prosecuted him on banking law violation charges rather than for inappropriately touching several underage boys, including Cross, decades ago when Hastert was a trusted teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School.
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