Former gymnastics coach sentenced on child molestation charges

December 18, 2015 10:35 pm

By: Samantha Fenlon

sfenlon@abc6.com

After more than a decade on the run, a former gymnastics coach at the YMCA Middletown is heading to prison for molesting young girls he used to coach.
61-year-old James Bell entered a plea deal for multiple charges of child molestation in a Newport courtroom on Friday. He admitted to molested three girls ages 9-13 in the early 2000’s. Bell was sentenced to 20 years with 8 to serve.

"He took 14 years of my life and the fact that he only has to serve eight is depressing,” said Kaylin Breitzke, one of his victims.

Bell was on the run for years. He fled in 2004 and was finally caught in April of this year.

In a tearful address to the court, Breitzke explained what it was like living in fear all those years that he wasn’t behind bars.
"The years that he was missing were the years that I spent in prison. I was a prisoner of him the entire time he was gone,” said Breitzke.

Through sobs Bell uttered a quick apology in court to his victims. "I’m so sorry for what I’ve done, the lives I’ve ruined. I’m so sorry,” said Bell.

Breitzke says she does not accept Bell’s apology. She was one of two victims to speak out in court during the sentencing. The father of a victim also gave a statement.