Man pleads guilty to child sex charges in Pike County

A man has pleaded guilty to a long list of child sex-related charges in Pike County, according to District Attorney James Tarbox.

Tarbox said that David Benton appeared in Circuit Court today to enter guilty pleas to 14 counts of sexual abuse of a child under 12, four counts of sodomy in the first degree and 18 counts of production of obscene material.

Benton was sentenced to 30 years, to serve day-for-day with no good time or parole, in the Alabama Department of Corrections.

Tarbox said Benton’s trial was scheduled to start tomorrow. He said the State intended to introduce testimony and evidence that showed in October 2021, Benton was socializing with friends at their home. Throughout the night, Benton would excuse himself to use the restroom or find some other excuse to enter the home, and would actually enter the bedroom of the minor victim, a girl. Throughout the night, Tarbox said Benton recorded himself sexually abusing her on his cell phone.

“I am grateful for the Defendant’s guilty plea today,” Tarbox said. “The victim in this case was prepared to testify and tell her truth about the terrible, vile and disgusting things that David Benton did to her back in October 2021, but her preference was to avoid having to do so. I want to thank her for her bravery and thank her and her family for enduring this lengthy legal process with our office.”

Tarbox said his office hopes that any child or person that has been a victim of a sex crime will have the courage to report what has happened to them. He said the victim in Benton’s case went straight to her parents the morning after the sexual abuse and reported what happened to her. Without her courage, Benton’s actions would have remained in the dark of that innocent child’s bedroom, Tarbox said.