(2/27/08 - Initial BBT Report)
Kevin M. Chapman, 51, an art teacher and boys swim team coach at Upper Arlington High School in Upper Arlington, Ohio has been arrested and charged with two counts of rape and one of sexual battery of a former student.
Chapman allegedly had sex twice on school grounds with a then 15-year-old female student in 1996. It is further alleged that on one occasion that Chapman forced the girl to perform oral sex upon him.
Chapman has been placed on administrative leave by the school system.
Upper Arlington Police indicate they are not aware of why the allegations were being made now, more than a decade after the alleged crimes. They do ask that anyone who contends they were a victim of Chapman to contact them at 614-583-5160.
3/12/08 - Case Passed To Grand Jury
On Monday, Kevin Chapman waived his preliminary hearing.
Prosecutors then dismissed the charges in a procedural move under which they intend to seek a grand jury indictment against Chapman.
05/07/08 - Chapman Has Agreed to Plead Guilty
Kevin M. Chapman has turned in his resignation to the school district and has reportedly agreed to plead guilty to sexual battery and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
Chapman is scheduled to enter the plea on May 19.
05/19/08 - Guilty Plea
Kevin M. Chapman today pleaded guilty to one count each of sexual battery and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
Chapman admitted having sex with the student at least three times in one year in classrooms at Upper Arlington High School. In January the victim while cooperating with police wore a hidden microphone and recorded Chapman confessing.
Chapman faces up to 10 years in prison at sentencing on July 11th.
07/12/08 - Sentencing
On Friday, Kevin Chapman was sentenced to five years in prison for the sexual battery count and 18 months for unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. The judge ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
The judge also told Chapman that he would “likely” have to register as a sex offender and verify his address every 90 days for life. The “likely” aspect is due to the fact that Chapman’s sex crimes occurred before the sex offender registration law was enacted.
At Chapman’s sentencing his victim reading from her statement said, “I was only 15; I had never even been kissed by a boy. Chapman had talked so much about his sexual escapades from college that I thought that maybe this is what cool college kids do and that maybe he really liked me the most or was even falling in love with me.”
She further went on to state, “In reality, Chapman treated me like his own personal sex toy. I was worthless, less than a human to him. It will take the rest of my life to undo what he has done to me.”
The victim also revealed that her victimization by Chapman forced her into a deep depression and suicidal thoughts and that after graduating from Ohio State University, she wanted to get out of Columbus, so she joined the Peace Corps. She now has a job in Bangladesh.
She further indicated that she has never had a successful relationship with a man and that she went to several therapists, and one finally told her that she had been raped and that she should report it.
The judge allowed Chapman to remain free on bond until Monday because he is helping his wife move to a new house.
Reportedly he will be eligible for early release in about four years.
Opinion of the Webmaster of BadBadTeacher.com
The Kevin Chapman case has been one of the most hotly cussed and discussed cases that we have covered on this site. Over the course of the discussion of this case it has been my job to attempt to moderate the comments of two widely divergent “sides” arising from this case and to do so without choosing “sides” myself.
Over the course of this case I was struck by the failure of the majority of Kevin Chapman supporters to grasp the fact that Chapman did not make “a mistake” or a series of “mistakes”, but instead that he was in fact accused of committing an on-going series of crimes over a period of time, crimes which victimized repeatedly a minor whose very age precluded her consenting to any sexual activity. Yet time and again Chapman’s supporters raised the issue of “consent” or alluded to a “consenting relationship” as some justification for Chapman’s alleged actions..
Age of consent laws create a very bright line which anyone with any degree of common sense should be able to grasp. If the age of consent is 16-years-old, that means that in no way, shape or form can a 15-year-old consent to any sexual activity. Likewise it means that any sexual activity occurring between a 15-year-old and an adult is a crime and is a new crime every time sexual contact occurs between the adult and child. It really is that simple.
When a person attempts to diminish the seriousness of sexual activities between adults and those younger than the age of consent, they are either fooling themselves, trying to fool others or both and victimizing the minor again. Questioning the truthfulness of the alleged victim is one thing, but to pretend that an alleged victim that could not under any circumstances legally consent to sexual activity with an adult “consented” is an insult to the common sense of the average person.
Kevin Chapman committed a crime, multiple crimes in fact, and to this day it appears that Kevin Chapman and his supporters still have not grasped the fact that he is a child molester and unless/until he comes to grips with that fact and receives treatment, the odds are that other children will fall victim to Kevin Chapman in the future and odds are also that Chapman supporters will still be whining about “consent” on the part of minors that can not “consent”.
Kevin Chapman did not make “a tragic error in judgment” as his sister said at his sentencing hearing. Instead he engaged in a prolonged course of action with one purpose and one purpose only, that being the victimization of an innocent child who could not “consent” to any form or fashion of sexual contact with an adult.
The judge, under the power of judicial discretion, sentenced Chapman to only half the prison time the law allowed. Hopefully the time he will serve in prison will serve to deter him from committing crimes against children in the future. A ten year sentence would have in the opinion of this writer been more appropriate for the circumstances of Chapman’s cirmes.
In any case, we should understand one very important fact arising from this case and that fact is that they have a name for adults that sexually prey upon children as did Kevin Chapman and that name is “predator”.
It is a name which fits Kevin Chapman perfectly.
References:
Former UA coach gets 5 years for sex abuse (07/12/08)
Sentencing Statement by Judge Beverly Y. Pfeiffer [PDF]
Ex-teacher pleads guilty to sex with student (05/19/08)
Ex-teacher will admit sex with student, prosecutor says (05/07/08)
Sex-abuse allegations tear communities apart (3/12/08)
Teacher/coach in Arlington charged in ‘96 rape at school (2/27/08)
Entries (RSS)