Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Bennett
A traveling basketball coach arrested in October for allegedly attempting to facilitate a child sex crime was charged Wednesday with 201 counts of child porn possession.
Nicholas R. Bennett, 23, of Portland, Oregon, was arrested Oct. 17 after allegedly setting up a sexual rendezvous in Shawano County with a 13-year-old boy.
After his arrest, authorities continued to investigate Bennett and executed search warrants to obtain electronic devices he had with him when he came to Shawano on Oct. 13 for a basketball camp held at Sacred Heart Catholic School.
According to authorities, those devices stored thousands of videos and images of child pornography.
The videos and images described in the criminal complaint include sexual acts being performed on infants and toddlers, mostly prepubescent males and some prepubescent females engaged in sexual activity, bondage, and, in at least two cases, intercourse with animals.
The title of one of the videos describes the date-rape and drugging of an 8-year-old, according to the complaint.
The complaint also includes exchanges from an Internet chat room that apparently caters to people interested in child pornography, in which Bennett allegedly boasts about having had sexual contact with many children, explaining he has been able to do that because, “I have been all over the USA.”
The chat room messages, which were exchanged in July, also allegedly include Bennett talking about sexual contact with a 3-year-old boy that he babysits.
Bennett also discusses exchanging pictures of child pornography with the other party in the chat, according to the complaint, and the two also discuss the “training” of children for sexual activity, which Bennett allegedly says, “is something I have done many times.”
Shawano-Menominee County District Attorney Greg Parker said the counts against Bennett represent only a fraction of what he could be charged with, given the evidence.
“The evidence reveals very serious violations of law with respect to crimes against children,” he said. “My office remains steadfast in aggressively prosecuting child pornographers who continue to perpetuate the child pornography industry.”
Bennett was a basketball coach with Pro Shot Shooting Systems, which offers basketball camps and clinics in various venues across the U.S., including schools.
The company held a basketball camp at Sacred Heart Catholic School in Shawano on Oct. 13.
According to the criminal complaint, Bennett struck up an acquaintance with a 13-year-old boy during the camp, asked for the boy’s cell phone number and began texting him the next day.
The texts came to the attention of the boy’s mother, who contacted the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department. She told detectives the text messages were at first supportive of the boy’s athletic talent but gradually seemed suggestive.
Sheriff’s detectives took over the electronic communications with Bennett. As the conversations between Bennett and detectives continued, the texts became more suggestive and eventually sexually explicit, according to the complaint.
Bennett eventually suggested a meeting and was taken into custody when he arrived. He was ordered held on a $100,000 cash bond.
Authorities subsequently executed a search warrant to obtain two green duffel bags and a cell phone owned by Bennett, and a second warrant to extract files from items found in the duffel bags, including a PlayStation, USB drive, iPad and laptop.
The search warrants indicate authorities were looking for emails, texts, chat room messages and other electronic communication, as well as any possible photos or videos that could be on the devices seized.
Bennett could face a maximum 25 years in prison and a $100,000 fine on each of the 201 counts of child porn possession, if convicted.
He could also face a maximum 40 years in prison and $100,000 fine if found guilty of using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, and 25 years and a $100,000 fine if convicted of attempted child enticement.
Bennett is scheduled for an adjourned initial appearance in Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court on Monday.