FLORENCE, S.C. (AP) - A South Carolina sex offender acquitted of
rape charges last year has been sentenced to 25 years in prison on
a federal gun charge.

U.S. District Court Judge Terry L. Wooten said 49-year-old Kenneth Glenn Hinson's criminal history led to the lengthy sentence on a charge of being a felon in possession of a weapon.

Prosecutors say he faced a minimum of 15 years in prison because
of his criminal record.

He could have been sentenced to spend the rest of life behind bars.

Authorities found Hinson with a gun when he was arrested in
2006.

Two teenage girls had said Hinson raped them in an underground room behind his home and left them for dead.

He was acquitted on those charges.

Hinson previously served nine years in prison for raping a 12-year-old girl.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)