FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 9, 2018
COVINGTON—District Attorney Warren Montgomery reports that a St. Tammany Parish jury found Todd Bennett, 30, of Folsom, guilty Friday (Feb. 9) of attempted molestation of a juvenile and aggravated incest of a victim under 13. He faces 25 to 99 years in prison when he is sentenced March 27 before District Judge Richard A. Swartz, Jr.
Bennett had been charged with two counts of aggravated rape, but he was found not guilty on one of the counts, and the jury found him guilty of attempted molestation of a juvenile in place of the second count. He was found guilty as charged of aggravated incest.
The abuse began when the victim was 10 to 12 years old, and Bennett was 18 to 20 years old. On multiple occasions through the years, Bennett touched her genitals, forced her to touch him, and once attempted to rape her. The victim testified during the trial that he also twice forced her to perform oral sex on him. She said she was afraid to tell anyone because Bennett had made threats.
As a teenager, the victim confided in a boyfriend about some of the abuse, and the boyfriend confronted Bennett on Thanksgiving Day in 2012. That’s when the victim’s parents learned about the abuse and contacted police. Bennett then fled St. Tammany and wasn’t arrested until July 2014, when he was picked up in Arkansas on the St. Tammany Parish warrant.
Assistant District Attorneys Jay Adair and Becky Jo Hollen prosecuted the case.