BENTONVILLE -- A Fayetteville man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping a teenage boy he met on a dating app before becoming the boy's court-appointed guardian.
A jury of six men and six women deliberated for almost three hours Wednesday and an hour Thursday before returning with guilty verdicts for Michael Stoelting, 42.
The panel later recommended Stoelting be sentenced to 10 years in prison. He faced from 10 to 40 years in prison or life imprisonment.
Benton County Circuit Judge Brad Karren followed the jury's recommendation and ordered Stoelting to serve 10 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
Stoelting was arrested in December 2019. He lived in Cave Springs at the time, according to court documents.
The jury heard testimony Stoelting met a 16-year-old boy on Grindr, a dating app.
The now 19-year-old man told jurors he first told Stoelting he was 18 but told him his actual age was 16 after the two met and engaged in a sex act. He said Stoelting told him he was 28 years old but later told him he was 40.
The man said he went to live with Stoelting about a month after meeting him. The man said Stoelting treated him well at first, but Stoelting started taking away the computer and television when the man didn't want to have physical contact.
He testified Stoelting went to court and was appointed his guardian. He said Stoelting had sexual contact with him twice after becoming his guardian.
Sarah Phillips, deputy prosecutor, asked the man if he could identify Stoelting, who was sitting at a table across the courtroom with his attorneys.
"I saw him, but I don't want to see him anymore," the man said.
Sam Hall, Stoelting's attorney, questioned the man and pointed out contradictions in the man's testimony concerning whether the sex acts occurred before or after Stoelting became the boy's guardian.
Prosecutors also presented text messages between Stoelting and the man where the two discussed their relationship.
A police officer told jurors the then-teenage boy said he didn't want to be deported back to Guatemala and had discussed marriage and adoption. The officer said Stoelting confirmed the conversation took place and believed adopting the teen was the best option and marriage was out of the question.
Stoelting didn't testify at the trial.
Stoelting filed for guardianship of the boy on Aug. 12, 2019, according to court records. The petition claimed Stoelting was a close friend of the teen and the guardianship was needed because the teen had been abandoned by his father. Benton County Circuit Judge Doug Schrantz signed the order appointing the guardianship.
The guardianship was later dismissed, according to court records.
Hall urged jurors to show leniency to his client. He told the panel Stoelting is not a predator or terrible person, but he made a series of poor decisions.
"It's not a case where he was looking for people ... preying on people," Hall said. "It's a weird situation."
Phillips said Stoelting's actions were not accidental, and he made the criminal choice of violating a child.
Stoelting will have to serve at least seven years in prison before he will be eligible for parole. He will have to register as as sex offender, and he was ordered not to have any contact with the victim.