MEMPHIS, Tenn. (August 1, 2017) — Dentures collected as evidence after a 2001 rape but never tested until last year have led to an eight-year prison sentence for a Tennessee man.

Prosecutors in Memphis say 67-year-old Thomas Maupin pleaded guilty to sexual assault and was sentenced on July 24.

Investigators say the dentures were collected and stored as evidence after a 31-year-old woman was raped in Memphis 16 years ago.

DNA also was collected, but the evidence became part of a backlog of 12,000 untested rape kits revealed in 2013.

Prosecutors say the dentures were sent for testing in July 2016. A partial DNA profile emerged that was consistent with Maupin’s.

Maupin’s name was imprinted on the dentures, which were made while he was in prison for the 1988 murder of a girl in Washington state.