28-Year Sentence For Prostituting Teens

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A Minnesota man is sentenced to 28 years in prison for prostituting, beating and sexually assaulting teenage girls.

Forty-year-old Arthur Chappell was retried on appeal and convicted of sex trafficking of a minor, conspiracy to produce child pornography and a host of other charges.

Prosecutors say Chappell is "cold and calculating liar and a manipulative and controlling sexual predator" His defense says the girls and women who worked for him did so freely and that Chappell has changed his ways and is now a man of the cloth.

Authorities say Chappell promoted his prostitution operation on Craigslist and Backpage websites. The government also alleged that between August of 2006 and mid-2007, Chappell persuaded other women to travel out of state to engage in prostitution.