Convicted child rapist Wayne Chapman was found not guilty following accusations that he exposed himself to others while incarcerated Friday.
Chapman, now 71, was charged with open and gross lewdness and lewd, wanton and lascivious acts for allegedly exposing himself to prison workers at MCI-Shirley. This acquittal will allow him to be released back into the public.
Chapman was convicted in 1977 of sexually assaulting young boys he lured into the woods. He’s been civilly committed since his prison term ended in 2004.
The Supreme Court ruled Chapman can no longer be civilly committed after two mental health professionals concluded he was no longer sexually dangerous, but despite that court order, Chapman is still in custody because of the lewdness charges.
The two new charges were filed in 2018 just before Chapman was set to be released.
His lawyer, Eric Tennen said he is now free to live wherever he wants to.
“I can’t really talk about where he is going, really for his own safety,” Tennen said. “We have been working hard hoping he would be released so we have a lot of different plans in place to help take care of him.”
The Sex Offender Registry Board lists Chapman as homeless.
Prosecutors argued that Chapman intentionally engaged in “increasingly sexualized behaviors,” while his defense said the prosecution wanted to show an edited version of incriminating footage.
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