PORTSMOUTH
More angry than scared, Robin Wynn jumped into her truck last week and chased the man her 9-year-old son said had just tried to entice him into his car. She wanted his license number for police but couldn't catch him.
On Thursday, she was relieved to hear that a man claiming responsibility had surrendered and that police in Portsmouth and Chesapeake had charged him with three counts of attempted child abduction and one count of abduction.
And glad that, at least in these cases, children had heeded their worried parents' warnings about avoiding strangers.
According to police and court records, Jerry Keith Bennett, 36, of the 1000 block of Nansemond Pkwy. in Suffolk was arrested Thursday and is being held without bond in the Portsmouth City Jail pending a July 30 hearing. Portsmouth police said Bennett called them late Wednesday to claim he was the man they were seeking in four incidents.
Four boys in Portsmouth and Chesapeake, ages 9 to 13, said they were asked by a man to get into his car. The 13-year-old was grabbed by the arm but managed to break free. It was unclear Thursday whether the one abduction charge was in connection with this incident.
None of the children were physically injured, police said.
According to court records, Bennett told detectives he had sexual feelings toward young males and over the past week had driven randomly around Hampton Roads and lied in several attempts to get boys into his car.
The scenario is one of a parent's worst nightmares.
Wynn, of the 800 block of Melvin Drive in Portsmouth, said she had talked about it with her children, including her son, whom she asked not be named.
"I've always told him that an adult should never want to play with children, and an adult should never need help from a child," Wynn said.
Her son was practicing skateboard tricks in front of his house the afternoon of June 18, waiting for a ride to baseball practice, when a silver sedan rounded the corner and stopped. The driver said he had "a cool remote-control car " and asked if the 9-year-old wanted to come play with it, the boy said.
The boy said no. The man, sterner, ordered: "Come on - get in the car!" The boy again said no and fled into his house. The driver sped away.
"I was kind of nervous, and scared," the boy said. "I didn't get in the car 'cause I didn't... know who he was."
He locked the door and peered out the window when his mom gave chase. Wynn said she's keeping her son in the back yard more now.
"The kids are off during summer, and they can't even play outside," she said. A few miles away, Donnie Smith Jr. also saw payoffs from his warnings to son Alan, also 9, who said he was approached the next afternoon in the 3800 block of County St., near their home.
"Now I think they're going to have a new understanding about what it means to not talk to strangers," Donnie Smith said. "One thing: His guardian angel was working overtime that day."
Alan was riding his bicycle when a gray sedan stopped, and the driver invited him to play at his house. "Just follow me," the driver said repeatedly, and then said he'd be back with his son to play in a nearby field often busy with children. He didn't return, leaving behind a frightened boy.
"I thought he was just crazy," Alan said. "I didn't know him.... I didn't know his purpose."
"One decision away from something bad happening," his father said.
Donnie Smith told neighbors, one of whom had caught the car on a surveillance camera. Smith told police after hearing about the other cases, realizing it might not be an isolated incident.
The lessons won't end, Wynn said.
"I've told him that just because he was in custody, that doesn't mean there aren't more out there," she said.
"It's a shame they have to lose their innocence so young."
Staff writers Janie Bryant and Linda McNatt contributed to this report.
Matthew Bowers, (757) 222-3893, matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com
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Ok, you've been told several
Ok, you've been told several times...its against the law. Sometimes one needs to approach things logically with common sense. An 18 year old who asks a 17 to get into his his car is a HUGE difference than a 36 year old stranger attempting to lure a 9 year old into his car. I will not post any further on this. The point has been made so go ahead and get the last word in...I know you want to. O and by the way...how many children do you have? I'm sure none.
I clearly understand the difference
But I also understand that it appears the 18 year old would have also violated the law. Rather than resorting to personal attacks when you have no answer simply admit that the law which criminalizes what this man did is violated by many people all the time. Maybe there is a part of this law that the media is not mentioning. It would seem absurd to say that anytime an adult asks any minor to get in a car it is a criminal act. Maybe it is, I don't know.
If you really dont
If you really dont understand the difference than maybe you should go aheda and contact the state police and register yourself now.
I see
So, as long as the child knows the adult from somewhere it is not illegal. Are you serious? So, if the adult tells the child the truth, it is not illegal? It just seems to me that if this law is worded how the media says it is, it is violated all the time.
I asked a simple legal
I asked a simple legal logical question which still no one has answered. If an 18 year old adult college freshman asks a 17 year old high school senior, whom he has known from high school the year before, if he wants a ride to the corner market, has he committed the same crime as this guy?
If it is a crime for an adult to solicit a minor to get in his car, what about the law would distinguish the above from the crime in question? Forget about the grossly different motives, what age boundaries does the law impose. Do we have to stop hanging out with our friends when we turn 18 until they also turn 18? Just curious.
No...that would not be illegal. (are you serious?)
An ADULT "stranger", asking a CHILD to get into his car using deception is agai
Ok. one more time
I asked a simple legal logical question which still no one has answered. If an 18 year old adult college freshman asks a 17 year old high school senior, whom he has known from high school the year before, if he wants a ride to the corner market, has he committed the same crime as this guy?
If it is a crime for an adult to solicit a minor to get in his car, what about the law would distinguish the above from the crime in question? Forget about the grossly different motives, what age boundaries does the law impose. Do we have to stop hanging out with our friends when we turn 18 until they also turn 18? Just curious.
Please don't
"I agree with you 100%. It is only a matter of time when Americans start taking things into their own hands when dealing with the scum that walk among us."
As a society we cannot lower ourselves to the "scum" standards. This is the very reason the war in Iraq is being faught. I have worked with child protection for many years, and as trained we look at all aspects of the issue. I'm as against children being victims as the next person, but they are (the scum) "sick", "mentally ill" if you will, that's not an excuse, but merely stating a fact. I'm also not infavor of using "mental illness" to circumvent the law. These people have to be punished, not stoned, or fried, but punished. Our prisons are filled with mentally ill people, we will not begin to address the problem unless we take treatment into consideration. Now you can rad and twist my comments all you want to!
Not me
I see no room for debate. Let's say one of these kids was abducted. Then raped. Then the rapist thinks he is going to get caught and buries her alive behind the trailer(happened in Florida). Think of the fear this child endured while being raped and then make your decision. There is no room or redemption for those who hurt children.
Mary, just a friendly warning about children who are taught the gospel as a route to abstinence; it rarely works. It's kind of an open joke about how the preachers daughter behaves when out. The more you suppress these desires, the more it increases their curiosity. I think it has no affect except to make them feel guilty and confused. I am sure there are thousands that will pop up and tell us "not my little angel/princess" but it's not reality. I'm sorry you had to find out this way.
Is there a cutoff?
The problem with a mental illness defense is that it is so nebulous. Can't we actually claim that Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Pol Pot, and Mao Ze Dong were mentally ill also (because we can't believe anyone sane could kill so many people?). But where is the cutoff? And are we going to describe our entire universe in terms of mental illness instead of using words like "evil" and "sin?" Ya'll have the right to frame your worldview any way you choose, but I have the right to still use those old-fashioned words about people who hurt children. And, by the way, to still believe in hell as the natural result of an evil life lived without God.
Problem is, I am not sure when a soul passes beyond redemption (because that is a "God is the judge" thing not a "Mary is the judge" thing) so I am not sure about capital punishment for pedophiles. I need to read more about that to make up my mind. That issue even baffles t
C.B.
I agree with you 100%. It is only a matter of time when Americans start taking things into their own hands when dealing with the scum that walk among us. It is a sad time when people actually defend these child predators and try to explain their bad behavior on a "mental illness". If someone has a mental illness had commits murder or child rape it is even more the reason to put them to death because you know there is no chance of "rehabilitation".
Child rapists
Given the heated comments regarding this story, some of you may want to check out a video on cnn.com regarding Rep. Fagan (D) and his vehement opposition to Jessica's law (another anti-child rapist law requiring mandatory 15 yrs for convicted child rapists) and how he publicly said he would "rip those child victims apart" on the witness stand in order to defend his client. The scum-sucking, money-hungry politician is also a defense attorney in Massachusetts. His diatribe is enough to make you vomit.
Yup, Ed B., you're right
We are Christians. Is that now the only faith that attempts to teach kids to delay gratification till marriage, or at least till adulthood?
By the way, if we both have teenagers, there is a fair way to talk about them in this blog. You don't know my teen and I don't know yours. So if you say yours is held hostage by teenage hormones, I have to defer to you as the father who knows your own teen best. But, the same thing works the other way around. You don't know my teen and you don't know what he is or is not thinking or doing.
No fair coming back and saying I don't know him either. You don't know our family and our relationships. You can only, fairly, refer to your own reality in this discussion with other people who are, for all intents and purposes, total strangers to you. Cheers, MGM
realist????
Not even close to what I had in mind.
I would venture...
I would venture that you could not find the one that you are looking for but I would be most proud to claim. We are two poles George, you = pacifist and I = realist.
Here we go again
" but to pacify that behavior in the name of mental illness, that can be cured, is ludicrous."
Life is not black and white as many might think and the sooner they learn the difference the better off the world will be. If you took the time to read what I wrote, with the sincerity of how it was written you would understand that fact.
I'm not excusing mental illness for any behavior I was merely commenting on another post. But, of course I'm "ludicrous" for doing such a thing.
For your lack of understanding, and narrow mind, I wonder what adjective I could use that the Pilot would allow to describe you?
Not my solution to everything..
Death is not my solution to everything but I abhor excuses, like mental illlness, for cold blooded murder, pedophilia, or any number of ruthless acts against humanity. Of course one must be a mental case for perpetrating such atrocities but to pacify that behavior in the name of mental illness, that can be cured, is ludicrous. We cannot give, as a society, a mental illness excuse for every heinous act against mankind. That is why we have the problems that we do today, we pacify behavior that is unacceptable. Forcefully disagreeing with those that promote otherwise is not harassment or jumping anyone, with all due respect.
Your solution
Your solution to everything is DEATH, Kill, stone, fry and you can't read a simple comment about what another person might be thinking without jumping them for "defending their behavior" which was not what I was doing.
Harassing?
Spare me the drivel. When one opens the door to excuses why people like this are the way they are, one opens the door to critizism. Take is like a man and quit portraying those that vehemently disagree as childish.
c.b.
I was not making excuse for this man, and lets get one thing straight right now. Before you go harassing people which is what you usually do, please think twice.
You really need to learn to me a little more polite when commenting to other, trust me it goes a long ways. You like to sit here and do all the name calling you seem to like, and it's totally inmature. I thought this was an adult blog.
George...
Please tell me that you are not trying to portray some feel good reason why a pedophile would want to booger a child. This is the scum of society that needs to be eradicated. NEVER and I mean NEVER make excuses for this trash. I could care less about their "mental" problem that "maybe" could be cured. I have a cure, DEATH, plain and simple. There are monsters that live among us that deserve no better but then again, I sure can think of a few other things that are more appropriate for people that cannot control their "urges". I am sure you wouldn't want me to convey them. Mess with my children and you have alot more than the law to be concerned with, trust me!!
Imprison all the underage kids who have had sex!!!
Well, Mary, that is why you give them condoms and teach them about the consequences of getting STDs and having babies when they are too young to care for them. To think that your ideas are going to win over most teenager’s hormones, you have to be either insane or a Christian.
17 year olds
17 year olds aren't waiting to have sex, by then the majority have alread had sex. Have you see the recent stats on teenage girls with STD's. It's scary! But many of you will say, "not my little angel"!
Let's clarify
Some people have questioned what crime was commited. Others have debated the action that should be taken.
The answer is stoning should do fine. The damage inflicted on the children is permanent and traumatizing. As a father, I assure you it will be worth every cost of the defense if I catch one. If I see you near my kids or anyone elses you can count on being locked in garage while we re-enact Resevoir Dogs.
Either way, Ed!
The point is that I want minors experimenting with sex (and esp adults thinking of experimenting with minors) to realize that the bodies of those 17-and-below are in a special protected class, the sexual touching of which bears a very real possibility of truncating one's freedom! Cheers, MGM
Mary
"I want that 17-yr-old boy impregnating his 17-yr-old girlfriend to worry that her parents will get him arrested"
Ummm, why would the girl not get arrested too for having sex with the boy? I am sure that she had just as much to do with it.
the standards . . .
No sexual approaches to a minor, ever.
I know there are those who would like to redefine this, for their own nefarious purposes. We must ensure it never gets redefined. I want that 17-yr-old boy impregnating his 17-yr-old girlfriend to worry that her parents will get him arrested, whether or not they do it in the end.
There is plenty of time for sexuality after age 18.
And did you know that, among young adults, many have decided that everyone gets "one free grab" until told that the other person doesn't want to be touched sexually?
My friend's daughter had her breast grabbed by a female co-worker in a shoe store. When told to never do that again, she said, "Oh, okay. Just trying to be friendly." It never occurred to her that my friend's daughter could have filed assault charges on a first offense. She thought my friend's daughter had to say something first. MGM
I hate to disagree, but
"You can not change adults who have this sickness...they will continue to abuse children."
This is always a very sensitive story and I understand how people feel, but I have to add that this kind of person can be treated if not cured, but the therapy is ongoing. It doesn't happen overnight! The man turned himself in possibly because he knew what he was doing was wrong, but couldn't help himself or maybe it was because his car was caught on camera. The courts will have to figure that one out. This is a mental illness. The guy did not wake up one morning and say, "I'm going after young boys". Sexual addiction falls in the same area, and there are many cases out there, they just don't all go after kids. We ae not a society that stones people. If you have that mentality then i suggest Iraq or some other foreigh country may be more to you liking.
ed baskins
I would prefer they start to shake and sweat at the mere sight of me if I ever catch one soliciting a child!
Dividing line
"what are the dividing lines and ages of demarcation? Does anyone know?"
If you don't know the answer to that question in this situation, you may want to check with the local police they may be looking for you.
What exact crime did he commit?
If an eighteen year old adult male asks a seventeen year-old juvenile friend from school if he wants a ride to the corner market, does it fall under this law? I can't imagine so; so, what are the dividing lines and ages of demarcation? Does anyone know?