'Prolific sextortionist' in Georgia gets 40 years in prison for harming 150 girls
Brandon Jenkins (Cobb County Sheriff's Office)
ATLANTA - A Georgia man was sentenced to 40 years in prison after he was found guilty of producing and distributing child pornography coerced from more than 100 young girls.
Benjamin Jenkins, 25, of Mableton, also faces a lifetime of supervision after his eventual release, according to the U.S. Justice Department, which described him as a “prolific sextornist” in announcing Tuesday's sentence.
“Jenkins exploited as many as 150 girls for his perverse satisfaction, causing unbelievable trauma to these children and their families,” U.S. Attorney Byung J. “BJay” Pak stated in a news release. “The sheer degradation and depravity that Jenkins forced his victims to endure is unimaginable. This sentence will hopefully help these courageous victims and their families heal.”
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According to Pak, Jenkins began using fake identities and profiles to contact girls between the age of 13 and 16 starting in 2015.
If he was able to persuade his underage victims to send him a sexually suggestive photo, officials say Jenkins would then threaten to release the photos online or send them to their family and friends unless they did what he ordered them to do.
Officials say Jenkins would punish his victims if they did not follow his demands quickly enough, starting a countdown clock and forcing them to send him videos "drinking their own urine or licking toilets."
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Girls who blocked Jenkins would have their images sent to their parents and friends. He would also post their nude photos and contact information online with messages for men to contact his victims directly, according to the court.
“No sentence will ever bring back the innocence that this monster stole from hundreds of girls,” acting Special Agent in Charge Robert Hammer said. “These victims were trapped in a vicious cycle from which they could not escape. We will continue to go after these predators while educating our youth about the dangers of sextortion.”
A federal jury convicted Jenkins of nine counts of producing child pornography and three counts of distributing child pornography at the beginning of 2020.
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