Ex-Regent official given 16 years for sex crimes

By Shawn Day

The Virginian-Pilot

CHESAPEAKE

Stephen L. McPherson, the former Regent University law school assistant dean convicted of sex acts with underage girls, has been ordered to serve 16 years in prison.

McPherson, 40, of Chesapeake was formally sentenced Monday in Chesapeake Circuit Court to 80 years, with 64 suspended. McPherson pleaded guilty in January to charges of forcible sodomy and object sexual penetration. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped nine other charges and recommended capping his prison sentence at 18 years, six months.

In court Monday, McPherson apologized to his victims, whom he and his wife, Melina, had adopted from Hope Haven Children’s Home in Virginia Beach, prosecutor Karen Brown said.

“They never wanted to destroy his life,” Brown said, referring to the girls. “They just wanted him to acknowledge his guilt.”

McPherson and his wife were indicted by a Virginia Beach grand jury in January on charges of indecent liberties stemming from allegations of illegal sexual acts with three girls while the couple served as house parents at Hope Haven between August 1996 and August 2000. Both were scheduled for trial Tuesday in Virginia Beach Circuit Court, but the cases were continued to Sept. 2.

Stephen McPherson was in the Chesapeake City Jail on Tuesday; Melina McPherson remained free pending trial.

Shawn Day, (757) 222-5131, shawn.day@pilotonline.com