An ex-convict from Burnsville has been sentenced to 28 years in prison for employing a 16-year-old girl in a Twin Cities prostitution operation he advertised on Craigslist and Backpage websites.
Arthur J. Chappell, 38, was sentenced Wednesday in federal court, six months after a jury convicted him of sex trafficking with a minor.
According to evidence presented at trial, Chappell recruited the girl to perform sex acts for money for about two months in mid-2007. In June of that year, Bloomington police conducted surveillance at the Homewood Suites, where they found four women in a room Chappell had rented.
Police later learned Chappell was advertising the sexual services of girls and women on the websites. Court records show the girl, from Richfield, said Chappell had threatened and sexually assaulted her.
Chappell has previous convictions for sexual assault of a minor, theft, second-degree assault, disorderly conduct, identity theft and promoting prostitution. Sentencing on his latest conviction has not been scheduled.
PAUL WALSH
