Burnsville Man Who Used Minors in Multistate Sex Ring Gets 28 Years

Burnsville resident Arthur J. Chappell was given 28 years in prison on Friday for running a multistate prostition ring in which he drugged and raped women and advertised the sexual services of two underage teenage girls in Backpage and Craigslist ads, the Star Tribune is reporting.

Authorities closed down Chappell's sex ring in 2007, but an initial conviction and 28-year sentence were overturned in January 2012 after the U.S. District Court botched its jury instructions.

Chappell, 40, was retried and convicted a second time in October of two counts of sex trafficking a minor and several charges for possessing and producing child pornography.

In a court filing, prosecutors described Chappell as a "cold and calculating liar and a manipulative and controlling sexual predator," according to the Star Tribune. "He preyed on young women and like a parasite, lived off the demeaning commercial sex acts he expected, and at times forced the trafficking victims to participate in to support him.”