WASHINGTON – A Montana woman says her brother was sexually abused by former House Speaker Dennis Hastert during the years when the GOP leader was a wrestling coach at a suburban Chicago high school.

Jolene Burdge, of Billings, told the Associated Press on Thursday that the FBI interviewed her last month about Hastert, who was charged last week in a federal indictment alleging that he agreed in 2010 to pay $3.5 million to someone so that person would stay quiet about “prior misconduct.”

Fifteen years before Hastert allegedly promised to pay that money, Burdge’s brother died. But years before his death, his sister said, he told her that his first homosexual contact was with Hastert and that it lasted throughout his high school years.

Stephen Reinboldt attended Yorkville High School, where Hastert was a history teacher and coach from 1965 to 1981.

In an interview aired Friday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Burdge said Hastert had been a father figure to her brother but also caused him irreparable harm.

“He damaged Steve, I think, more than any of us will ever know,” she told the TV show.

The AP could not independently verify her allegations.

A friend and former classmate of Reinboldt’s said Reinboldt told him in 1974, during college, that he’d had a sexual relationship with Hastert in high school. That friend spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity so as not to betray a personal confidence.

A person familiar with the allegations in the indictment has told the AP that the payments mentioned in the document were intended to conceal claims that the Illinois Republican sexually molested someone decades ago. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.

Hastert has not been charged with sexual abuse. But Burdge’s story indicates there could be more victims beyond the “Individual A” named in the indictment.

The former congressman has not appeared in public or addressed any of the allegations since he was indicted. He did not respond to a message left on his cellphone Friday. Emails and phone messages sent to his son, Ethan Hastert, also went unanswered.

An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment on Burdge’s allegations.

Reinboldt died in Los Angeles in 1995 at age 42. Burdge told ABC that he died of AIDS.

He was a manager of the wrestling team that Hastert coached, the AP found. He was also manager of the football team, student council president and a member of the pep club, lettermen’s club, French club and yearbook staff.

Reinboldt graduated in 1971 and later moved to the Los Angeles area, where he worked for Columbia Pictures in sales and distribution. He also worked for several software companies.