NEW BOSTON, Texas–A Bowie County jury wasted no time in convicting a man who sexually abused a local girl for roughly half her life and made quick work of sentencing him to a life term with no possibility of parole.
Paul Chapin, 52, was found guilty of the continuous sexual abuse of a child under 14 for sexually assaulting the victim countless times beginning at age 9. There is no parole possible from any term imposed for that offense. The jury of eight men and four women deliberated less than 10 minutes before convicting Chapin of that charge and of two counts of sexual assault of a child that occurred after the victim’s 14th birthday.
The jury spent under 10 minutes deciding that Chapin should receive the maximum punishments possible; life without parole for continuous sexual abuse of a child and two maximum, 20-year terms for sexual assault. Judge John Tidwell ordered that the terms run consecutively for a total sentence of life plus 40 years.
The jury also imposed a $40,000 fine which will go to the state of Texas.
Chapin molested the girl more than 700 times at locations in New Boston and Maud, Texas, beginning in 2012 when she was 9 and continuing to 2020 when she was approximately 17, according to a notice from the state. The notice also included accounts of Chapin sexually abusing a friend of the girl he was convicted of sexually assaulting this week. Chapin preyed on the second girl when she would visit her friend.
The jury also heard information regarding an out-of-state arrest in 1998 for rape of a child in Washington and a 1990 conviction for forgery in Oregon.
The state called Chapin a chronic liar who uses mistruths to bolster his image and manipulate people. Chapin claimed to have served as a cook and as a sniper in the military to impress others and complains of health and memory problems when it benefits him to do so, the state alleged.
First Assistant District Attorney Kelley Crisp and Assistant District Attorney Lauren Richards represented the state. Chapin was represented by the Bowie County Public Defender’s Office.
Chapin has been held in the Bowie County jail since his arrest in July 2021. He will remain there until he is transferred to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, where he will spend the rest of his life.
