Fults sentenced to 45 years in prison
Admitting he should have never become involved with a teenage boy, local native Craig Fults was sentenced to 45 years in prison Tuesday for his sexual contact with a 16-year-old Rutherford County student.
“I loved him,” said Fults of the relationship with his accuser during his testimony in the four-hour-long sentencing hearing at the Murfreesboro courthouse. “I cared a great deal about him.”
The 45-year sentence was handed down for Fults’ conviction last year on five counts of rape, 12 counts of sexual battery by an authority figure and seven counts of statutory rape. The counts each involved improper contact with the 16-year-old boy Fults befriended while coaching soccer at Barfield Elementary in Rutherford County. Fults will be required to serve 100 percent of the sentence.
During his testimony Tuesday, Fults maintained it was the boy who began the relationship with him. Fults also said the boy used their relationship to get gifts from him and for Fults’ help in purchasing a car for the teen. Fults admitted he was intimate with the youth on at least six occasions, with one encounter occurring in the locker room at the school where Fults was a teacher.
“I was the adult,” Fults said, noting his relationship with the boy was consensual and not a case of rape. “I shouldn’t have let it happen. I shouldn’t have gotten involved with him on a physical level.”
Fults said he had wrestled with his homosexuality for a long time, saying it was “my cross to bear” in describing his orientation.
The mother of the victim, who testified Tuesday, said she had no reason to suspect Fults was molesting her son.
“He was a very nice, polite man,” she said. “I trusted the wrong person. A predator comes along and you blame yourself for it.”
The mother said the entire episode has been hard to handle.
“It was just devastating,” she said, noting her son was dealing with verbal abuse. “At school they call him gay, a faggot, a queer. At 16 that’s just devastating.”
In response, the defense pointed out the victim’s family had recently filed a $20 million lawsuit against Fults and Principal Judy Goodwin.
As for Goodwin, the Barfield principal testified for the defense Tuesday, saying Fults, a 7th grade geography teacher and soccer coach was a good teacher.
“He went above and beyond,” Goodwin said.
Also taking the stand for the defense was Fults’ mother, Betty Fults, who said her son was always helpful and supportive of his parents. She also said her family has been the subject of threats she believes are coming from the teen.
“I’ve had threatening phone calls,” Mrs. Fults said. “For a while I was living in hell.”
After hearing the arguments, Judge Don Ashe first addressed Fults’ parents, saying it was evident from the letters of support he had received in their behalf that they must be well respected.
“Our children bring us the greatest joy in life and the greatest disappointment,” Ashe told them.
Ashe then turned to Fults, announcing he had found several enhancing factors, meaning some of the sentences would be run consecutively. Fults had faced a minimum of eight years for the crimes.
“You have besmudged all teachers by doing this,” Ashe told Fults in announcing the 45-year sentence.