BishopAccountability.org
 
  Church Youth Leader Gets 17-Year Sentence

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.

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.

 
 

Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.