HAMILTON — A Hamilton man identified as a rape suspect through a DNA database has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for an April 1998 attack on a woman in Fairfield.

        Butler County Common Pleas Judge Matthew Crehan on Tuesday sentenced Charles S. Courtney Jr., 38, to 10 years in prison for rape, 10 more years for kidnapping and five years for intimidation of a crime victim.

        The judge also fined Mr. Courtney $50,000.

        Indicted in February on five charges, Mr. Courtney pleaded guilty in April to three charges involving the Hamilton woman, who reported that she was abducted at a Fairfield grocery store, raped in the 4900 block of Factory Drive and robbed of her purse.

        The woman was present at Tuesday's sentencing, but made no statement, officials said.

        Several of the woman's relatives spoke on her behalf.

        Although a DNA sample from the 1998 rape was sent to the state crime lab three days after the attack, it took until November 2001 for scientists to analyze the sample and add it to the state's Combined DNA Index System.

        Authorities had little explanation for the delay, except to say there was a backlog in the system and that cases with speedy-trial demands must be processed first.

        Once processed through the state crime computer, the Fairfield sample matched a sample that had been taken from Mr. Courtney.

        Mr. Courtney had served prison time in Indiana for sexual battery, and was released seven weeks before the Fairfield attack. He was returned to prison in 2000 for violating probation.

        He was arrested in December on a warrant for the Fairfield attack.

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