CHICAGO — Former U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert has been sentenced this morning to 15 months in prison, along with 2-years supervised release following his prison sentence, and fined $250,000 that will go to a crime victim fund. The judge noted that positions of power and respect do not insulate a person from being held accountable.

Judge Durkin called Hastert a liar and a serial child molester, saying his “sordid secrets” were a motive and an aggravating factor to the banking violation charge to which the former U.S. House Speaker was sentenced.

The Judge told Hastert that when he is released from prison, he will need evaluation and treatment as sex offender. He noted that prosecutors were fully within their rights in investigation structuring; could have been blackmail target as former speaker “knew nation’s secrets”

Hastert arrived early this morning at a federal courthouse in Chicago for his sentencing in a hush-money case centered on sex-abuse allegations.

A man helped the 74-year-old Republican out of a black SUV and into a wheelchair along the curb outside the high-rise courthouse in downtown Chicago on Wednesday morning. His attorneys say he has been in poor health after nearly dying from a blood infection and suffering a stroke in November.

Hastert pleaded guilty to breaking banking law as he sought to pay someone $3.5 million. Prosecutors say it was hush money to conceal past sexual abuse against a student wrestler while Hastert was a high school teacher and coach.