A former U.S. Army officer will serve prison time after he was convicted of groping a 16-year-old — and then an 18-year-old — on separate flights to Seattle last year, federal prosecutors said.
James Benecke, 42, was a chief warrant officer stationed in Alaska when he sexually assaulted the teen in April 2023 and then the woman two months later, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.
He was dishonorably discharged from the Army following the assaults, according to his legal counsel.
“Benecke deliberately and methodically escalated his behavior during the course of these flights,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
A judge sentenced Benecke to one year in federal prison on July 17 after he pleaded guilty to abusive sexual contact while on board an aircraft, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a July 18 news release.
His court-appointed public defender, Jesse Cantor, didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on July 19.
“Preying on teenagers in the confined space of an aircraft is traumatizing, and is happening far too often,” U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman said in a statement. “Those convicted of this crime are required to register as a sex offender. Some have been banned from certain airlines.”
Ahead of sentencing, Cantor argued a sentence of five years of probation and six months of house arrest would have been “sufficient” for…
