Army chaplain guilty of molesting daughter

DOUGLASVILLE, Ga., Sept. 2 (UPI) -- A military chaplain convicted in Georgia of having sexual relations with his daughter over a period of several years has been given a life sentence.

Steven Frank Michalke pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of aggravated child molestation, incest and enticing a child for indecent purposes, the Douglas County Sentinel in Douglasville reported.

After sentencing him to life in prison without parole, Judge William H. McClain ordered Michalke be turned over the military, which will try him as well.

"This is without a doubt one of the worst cases of child molestation that I have seen in all my 30 years of doing this," Douglas County District Attorney David McDade said.

Michalke was indicted in September but McDade said the acts spanned more than a decade from the time the daughter was 6 until she was in her teens.

"He was a chaplain in the Army, and he had moved across the world, and these disgusting things had apparently been happening all along the way," McDade said.

McDade said Michalke has been on a hunger strike in the Douglas County jail in an apparent attempt to starve himself to death.

Court orders to have Michalke force fed are in place, McDade said.