AUBURN - Cayuga County Judge Mark Fandrich on Tuesday classified a local man as a predicate sexual offender.

James Chapman, 61, of 61 State St., Auburn, was also classified as a level three sex offender and a sexually violent sex offender after being convicted on Nov. 16, 2006, of sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl.

A level three status means the court considers Chapman to pose a high risk of re-offending.

Chapman received a predicate standing after an investigation into a 1989 Maryland conviction of sexually abusing a minor.

Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann said Chapman's Maryland conviction would be the equivalent of statutory rape, a felony in New York.

Read the full report in Wednesday's edition of The Citizen.