Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Bennett
A traveling basketball coach accused of facilitating a child sex crime and facing more than 200 counts of possessing child porn waived his preliminary hearing Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Nicholas R. Bennett, 23, of Portland, Oregon, also requested that a different judge hear his case.
Judicial substitution rights allow for a defendant to request another judge. No reason for the request is required.
Bennett appeared Wednesday before Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court Judge William Kussel Jr.
The substitution request likely means the case will go before Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court Judge James Habeck.
No date for further proceedings has been scheduled.
Bennett 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, the devices stored thousands of videos and images of child pornography.
Bennett was a basketball coach with Pro Shot Shooting Systems, which offers basketball camps and clinics in various venues across the U.S.
According to the criminal complaint, Bennett struck up an acquaintance with a 13-year-old boy during the Shawano 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.
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.