WENATCHEE, Wash. (AP) _ A cross-dressing nanny, a man who had begun the process of a sex-change, was sentenced to 23 years in prison Wednesday for raping and molesting two boys, including one he took to Colorado.

Synthia Koopman was sentenced for six felony convictions by Superior Court Judge T.W. Small Jr., who had found Koopman guilty.

Koopman, 31, had started sex-change operations and changed his name from Dennis L. Koopman when he moved to Wenatchee about a year ago, said his attorney, Eric Christianson.

The woman who hired Koopman as a nanny told police she didn’t know he was a man. Koopman, who dressed as a woman, was arrested in July after leaving Wenatchee with the woman’s 10-year-old son.

Koopman was arrested by a Wyoming state trooper who followed his car into Colorado.

Prosecutor Gary Riesen said the young victims will spend a long time getting over the incidents.

″Frankly, the rather bizarre circumstances will make it even more difficult for the victims to deal with as they go on with their lives,″ he said.

Koopman pleaded guilty in October to a charge of unlawful imprisonment, reduced from a kidnapping charge.

Koopman also was convicted of three counts of first-degree rape of a child involving the 10-year-old boy, and of third-degree child molestation and third-degree rape of a 14-year-old boy who was a friend of the younger child.

Christianson has appealed all charges except the unlawful imprisonment charge. He said it likely won’t be decided for at least another year.

Koopman wants to complete the sex-change operations but doesn’t know if he will be allowed to do so while in prison, Christianson said.

No decision had been made yet whether to place Koopman in a men’s or women’s prison, officials said. Koopman wants to serve the sentence in a women’s prison, Christianson said.