Benjamin Cole, who was accused of sexually abusing teenage girls in Mansfield approximately twenty years ago, was found guilty on two counts of indecency with a child. According to CBS 11 News, Cole was sentenced to 4 and a half years in prison for each count of indecency with a child. He is to serve his term concurrently.
Per CBS 11 News, Amanda Hodson and Marybeth Arnold filed a police report in March 2018 alleging that Cole abused them when they were teenagers.
Hodson, in her testimony on the first day of trial, gave her account of the incident. According to what she told jurors, Hodson said she knew Cole from Heritage Baptist Church in Mansfield, and she was pressured into a sexual relationship with him.
Cole’s family was close to Hodson’s family, she testified. Years later, she attended a church camp Cole attended. She was 14 at the time while he was 20. At the camp, Hodson said Cole first touched her by putting his hand on her leg.
Hodson told jurors that Cole, via AOL Instant Messenger, began asking her to stand in front of her home’s window and remove certain pieces of clothing while he watched her from outside.
Hodson said she tried to distance herself from Cole, but she was afraid. She said he groped her and forced his hands down her pants when she was 16, and he was 22.
Cole had previously served a prison sentence for an unrelated conviction on possession of child pornography and online solicitation of a minor in 2018.
According to the two women, they were motivated to open up about their molestation in the hands of Cole after they found out he was behind bars for online solicitation of a minor and possession of child pornography.
Cole’s conviction, they say, made them realize that what he put them through were not isolated incidents, and he probably had other victims.