- Calling Eric Morel's actions "degrading" and "depraved," Judge C. William Foust sentenced the former world boxing champion to prison for two years followed by two years probation for his role in the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl.

Foust handed down the sentence Tuesday afternoon in Dane County Circuit Court after listening to more than an hour of testimony that included a letter from the victim as well as a handful of Morel's family members and former manager Bob Lynch, who each spoke on behalf of Morel's character.

Foust also prohibited Morel, 30, from having contact with minors following his release unless he gets the approval of his probation officer. There is a chance he'll have to register as a sex offender although the court will determine that matter at a later date.

In June, Morel agreed to a plea agreement in which he pleaded no contest to the charge. In return, the district attorney agreed not to ask for confined prison time in Morel's case.

Instead, the prosecutor recommended Morel receive five years probation and one year of jail time, which could have meant house arrest or an arrangement that would allow him the freedom to leave the jail for work.

However, Foust thought a stiffer sentence was necessary, stating: "This kind of sexual contact with a passed out 15-year-old is too shocking and too outrageous. It's a set of facts where I have to say the line is here and you've gone beyond that."

In June 2004, Morel and his brothers, Frederick Orlando Santos-Perez and Samuel Morel, were charged with second-degree sexual assault stemming from an incident Dec. 1, 2002, inside a Fitchburg apartment.

According to police, a friend of the victim who was also at the apartment, said Santos-Perez had sex with the 15-year-old while Morel watched. The friend told police she later returned to the room and found the victim passed out on a bed as a number of men stood around her.

The victim told police she didn't remember the incident but that when she awoke the next morning the inside of her legs hurt and her lip was swollen. A medical exam taken the next day confirmed those injuries.

"I take full responsibility for my participation," he said. "I hope that some day the victim can find it in her heart to forgive my transgressions."

The 1996 Olympian and former 112-pound world champion lost two of his last four fights. In July his fight with super flyweight champion Fernando Montiel was cancelled after the Nevada State Athletic Commission suspended his license because of his no-contest plea.

However, the only fight Morel was concerned with on Tuesday was the one for his freedom. He cried as family members spoke of the loving person they knew him to be and broke down again as he read his statement.

She attended the hearing but didn't speak. However, in a letter to the court she said she'd moved away from her hometown because she felt "dirty" and "humiliated" by the incident and joined the Wisconsin National Guard Challenge Academy in order to "toughen myself, make myself stronger, make myself forget."

"How has all this affected me? Well, to be honest, I'm still very sick about it all, I'm still very sad, still very upset," she said in the letter. "And I don't think I will ever forget what has happened to me. I don't think I ever will."

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