Wichita ? A former Wichita teacher convicted of raping and fondling a student in 1997 was sentenced Friday to more than 15 years in prison.

Sedgwick County Judge Rebecca Pilshaw refused to allow Earnest Overton to remain free on bond while his case was appealed. He was handcuffed and escorted from the courtroom to the sobs of friends and family, who had packed the room for the hearing.

In his first public statement since his arrest, Earnest Overton told the judge that the incidents for which a jury convicted him did not happen.

The judge also heard a tearful plea from Overton’s wife, Michelle.

A Sedgwick County jury last month found Overton guilty of one count each of rape and aggravated indecent liberties with a child.

Pilshaw sentenced Overton to 184 months, the minimum of three possible terms.

She also handed down a 41-month sentence for the fondling incident with the same girl, but ordered it served concurrently with the rape sentence.

The victim was one of Overton’s students at Truesdell Middle School and his baby sitter in 1996. She testified that Overton fondled her in a classroom and raped her at his home.

Two other former students testified during the trial that Overton assaulted them in the mid-1990s.

But jurors found Overton innocent of two rape charges and an aggravated indecent liberties with a child charge related to one of the women.

Charges from the third woman’s accusation were dropped because too much time had passed since the alleged incidents.