Associated Press, carried in Arizona Republic
April 25, 2008
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/04/25/20080425leadersentence-ON.html
A Gilbert church youth leader accused of sexually molesting a teenage girl has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.
After a three-day trial, James Ward Chapman III was found guilty by a jury March 27 of child molestation and sexual abuse.
Chapman, 40, was sentenced Thursday by a Maricopa County Superior Court judge.
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| James Ward Chapman III |
A former volunteer leader at First United Methodist Church of Gilbert, Chapman could have faced up to 22 years in prison.
He will be placed on lifetime probation and registered as a sex offender.
Chapman was arrested in July after the 13-year-old girl, who is deaf and has a slight mental disability, told a school counselor that he had molested her in his home.
Chapman initially told officers that he didn't molest the girl. But after a lie-detector test, records show he confessed to touching her.
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