On March 26, 2024, a Catoosa County jury convicted Brandon Bennet of 15 counts of child sex
offenses after a two-day trial before Judge Brian House. Bennet, 39, was convicted of two counts of
aggravated child molestation, one count of incest, three counts of child molestation, six counts of
sexual exploitation of children, two counts of computer pornography, and one count of invasion of
privacy after less than 15 minutes of deliberations by the jury.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Bennet moved to Catoosa County in 2021 at the
request of his sister who was suffering from terminal cancer, to assist in caring for her three children.
Unfortunately, Bennet’s sister would succumb to her cancer in July 2021. However, her dying wish was
that Bennet care for her children, which Bennet agreed.
In February 2022, one of the children confided in a family friend that his uncle had molested
him while he was sleeping and repeatedly solicited sexual acts from the child. Further, Bennet had
been soliciting sex from some of the child’s friends. Following an investigation by the Fort Oglethorpe
Police Department, Bennet and the child victim’s cell phones were seized and examined with the
assistance of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations. Located on the child’s phone were text messages
sent from Bennet bragging about the sexual abuse he had already done to the child as well as
soliciting additional sexual acts from the child. Some of these messages included Bennet attempting to
blackmail the child with food and privileges in exchange for sex. On Bennet’s phone, law enforcement
located several videos of Bennet molesting the child and filming the child while he was in the
bathroom. Additionally, a plethora of other child pornography was located on Bennet’s phone, some
of which featuring infants being molested by adults.
At the trial, all of the electronic evidence was presented to the jury as well as the testimonies of
several witnesses including Bennet’s nephew and one of the child’s friends whom Bennet was
soliciting for sex but never molested.
The case was presented to the jury by Assistant District Attorney David Wolfe, who spent nearly
two years preparing the case for trial with the assistance of Victim Advocate Ashely Nicholson who
spent countless hours communicating with the victims and their families as well as coordinating all of
the witnesses in the case. Former Fort Oglethorpe PD Detective Tammy Davis was the lead investigator
in the case and testified along with other members of local and state law enforcement as well as Holly
Kittle, senior forensic interviewer from the Children’s Advocacy Center in Fort Oglethorpe.
During his closing, ADA Wolfe called Bennet a predator, highlighting the fact that Bennet had
preyed on his nephew immediately after the child watched his mother suffer and succumb to cancer
and was soliciting other children in the community for sex.
On March 26th, the jury found Brandon Bennet guilty of all 15 counts. Immediately after the
verdict, Judge Brian House sentenced Bennet to life with the first 100 years to be served in prison.
