ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune
Christy Gutowski
Chicago Tribune
For nearly 40 years, as his former high school wrestling coach rose to great political heights, Scott Cross tried to bury the abuse he survived as a teenage boy by a man he trusted and admired.
On Tuesday, speaking before an Illinois Senate criminal law panel in Chicago, Cross went from a victim to an advocate in urging legislation that gets rid of the deadlines for prosecuting more than two dozen felony crimes involving sexual offenses against children.
He joined Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan in supporting the proposal, which was sparked by the federal prosecution of former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert.
In the Hastert case, 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 teacher and wrestling coach at Yorkville High School.
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