Former Murray detective sentenced to jail

A former Murray police detective was sentenced to two years in jail Monday for sexually abusing a teenage girl over a five-year period.

Michael D. Spilman, 35, previously had pleaded guilty to two counts of forcible sex abuse, both second-degree felonies, as part of a plea bargain. He was arrested Jan. 9 and resigned a few days later from the Murray Police Department, where he had worked since 1999.

Spilman apologized for his conduct.

"You deserve to go to prison," 3rd District Judge Dennis Fuchs told Spilman. "You became more aggressive as time went on. It wasn't like you were getting better, you were getting worse."

Fuchs said the case was disturbing because the abuse lasted for so long and "because you were in law enforcement, you should have known better and gotten help."

However, the victim did not want Spilman to go to prison, and prosecutors did not push hard for a prison term. In addition, Fuchs noted that everyone involved in the case agreed that prison can be dangerous for anyone who has ever been in law enforcement.

"I think you need long-term therapy, and I think you need to be punished," Fuchs said.

The judge sentenced Spilman to two consecutive terms of one-to-15 years in prison, but suspended the prison time and instead imposed two consecutive years of incarceration in a local jail. Fuchs said he would recommend the Carbon County Jail, but said he could not guarantee what placement jail officials would make.

Fuchs also imposed 36 months of probation that included a lengthy list of conditions Spilman must meet, including paying restitution for any counseling for the victim, completing sex-offender treatment and registering as a sex offender, getting approval for employment from Adult Probation and Parole and submitting to random polygraph exams.

The judge also ordered Spilman to have no contact with anyone under age 18 and forbade attendance at events where children would be present without approval from his parole officer.

e-mail: lindat@desnews.com