Former major league baseball player Chad Curtis listens to victim statements before being sentenced to prison Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013 in Hastings, Mich. Curtis was found guilty of sexual assaults of high school girls. (Chris Clark | MLive.com)

HASTINGS, MI – As Chad Curtis delivered what a prosecutor called an arrogant, self-serving hour-long soliloquy, the three teen victims of his sexual crimes could take no more and walked out of the courtroom.

But they returned in time to hear Barry County Circuit Court Judge Amy McDowell sentence the former major leaguer and school athletic mentor to seven to 15 years in prison for his sexual assault of three girls at Lakewood High School.

“I feel like I’ve got to a point now where I have done all I can do and I can move on with my life,” said the 18-year-old, who was the victim of Curtis’ crimes in 2011 when he committed third-degree criminal sexual conduct against the then-high school senior. The crime involves sexual penetration.

The victim and her father spoke during the sentencing hearing in Hastings Thursday, Oct. 3, and told the judge that the fact Curtis portrayed himself as a godly man who sought only to help student athletes made his crimes all the worse.

They also heard Curtis say that he and his victim should collaborate on a book someday.

“He doesn’t deserve to be in society for what he’s done,” the young woman said.

One mother of a victim said her daughter had been failed by the Lakewood Schools administration and community and that her daughter was not supported, but instead was harassed and ostracized by supporters.

The victims talked about their feelings of betrayal by a man they revered as an athlete and as a man of principle and godly values.

“"I, myself, kept giving you a chance to walk away from the monster you'd become," one victim told Curtis in court. “As a Christian, I don’t hope for any bad things to happen to you. I hope for good things. I hope you admit what you’ve done to God and yourself.”

For his part, Curtis talked for an hour and accused all the victims of lying during the week-long trial in August, during which Curtis was found guilty of six counts of criminal sexual conduct.

Curtis talked of how he was playing for the Detroit Tigers, one of six teams he would play for in a 10-year career ending 2001, when he decided he wanted to become a servant of God.

Curtis talked at length about all the students he helped by getting his teaching certificate at Cornerstone University. He talked about the people he brought to Christ through his example and the lives he helped turn around even as he waited sentencing in the Barry County Jail.

“I wake up every morning and ask, 'How can I be a positive influence in this little cell?” Curtis told the judge. “I live my faith every day.”

Curtis took exception to being called selfish by the victims and their parents, and he seemed intent on making sure the judge knew that he was not selfish.

Curtis also said he was the one rebuffing advances from the girls, who accused him of getting them alone in the school weight room and then molesting them under the guise of athletic conditioning.

He said the girls will have to come to terms with their wrong-doing.

“The truth will set her free,” he said of one of his victims.

“I think this whole thing is an unfortunate situation where the whole truth has not been told, Curtis said. “I believe her (the victim) and I could write a book someday and it would have a positive impact on a whole lot of people.”

Barry County Prosecutor Julie Nakfoor Pratt said Curtis’ statement showed an utter lack of remorse and showed that he needed to be put in prison.

“That was the most selfish, self-serving, victim-blaming statement I’ve heard in my career as a prosecutor,” Pratt said. “It speaks volumes about his character, or lack thereof.”

After hearing Curtis’ statement, McDowell sentenced him at the very top of the state sentencing guidelines. The judge said the only thing that kept her from exceeding the guideline with a higher minimum sentence was she was worried that it could be the basis for an appeal.

Following the sentence hearing, defense attorney David Dodge gathered with supporters of his client, including Curtis’ wife and daughter, as they met in a circle and prayed in the courthouse parking lot.

Dodge said there will be an appeal and that there are issues he believes will work in his client’s favor.

He would not say that his client made a mistake in making his lengthy nstatement, saying that Curtis needed to speak his piece.

One young woman who had spent more than a year waiting to testify in the case said she was satisfied with the sentence, but that seeing her former mentor go to prison was never her main goal in coming forward.

“The only thing I truly wanted for him is to admit what he did and get help,” she said.

E-mail Barton Deiters: bdeiters@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/GRPBarton or Facebook at facebook.com/bartondeiters.5