Set to be released convicted serial child rapist indicted on new charges

Wayne Chapman who has reportedly attacked up to 100 children from Rhode Island and Massachusetts and is a suspect in a boy’s disappearance, was formally arraigned on new charges Friday that could keep him in prison.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan has confirmed Chapman, 70, who has been serving a 40+ year sentence, has been indicted by a Middlesex County Grand Jury on charges of open and gross lewdness and lewd, wanton and lascivious acts in connection with alleged behavior that occurred on June 3rd and 4th at MCI-Shirley. It is alleged that the defendant was witnessed by staff with his genitals exposed on one occasion and observed masturbating on another occasion in full view of Department of Correction employees and nursing staff. As a result of his indictment on these charges, Chapman will also be charged as a habitual criminal. An arraignment date in Middlesex Superior Court has not yet been scheduled.

Chapman was arraigned in Ayer District Court on June 6, 2018.

Mental health experts had approved his release after deeming that Chapman was no longer sexually dangerous and should be freed. These new charges, however, have kept him held without bail.