He used to care for foster children in his north Columbus home, but on Friday a judge sentenced James Chapmyn to spend the next 18 months in prison for sexually abusing three of them.

At the sentencing hearing, Chapmyn, 46, denied the abuse.

"I can sit up here as passionately as anyone asserting my innocence but I believe the evidence, your Honor, supports my innocence," Chapmyn said.

Chapmyn was a Franklin County Children Services foster parent to 30 kids. He was originally charged with raping one of them and sexually abusing two of them. The charges were lowered to "importuning."

The local playwright spoke with 10TV last year and said he would never hurt the children he loved.

"When all is said and done, the only people that know the truth is me and three young men," Chapmyn said. "You know, I wonder if two of them even have the capacity to know what's true or not."

The judge declared Chapmyn a sexual predator because there were multiple victims, a pattern of abuse, and because as their foster parent, he was in a position of trust.

After serving his time is prison, Chapmyn will have to register as a sex offender wherever he lives for the rest of his life.

Reported by Tracy Townsend