Safe Sam suspect in court Monday

Defendant Benjamin Charles Dennis, the Corning man charged with attempted lewd and lascivious conduct with a child, contact with a minor to commit a sexual offense, and sending sexually explicit material to a minor, is scheduled to appear in court on Monday for an entry of plea and pretrial conference. 

Dennis will make his appearance with his court appointed attorney, Ron McIver, at 1:15 p.m. in Tehama County Superior Court, Dept. 2.

Previously, Dennis had entered a plea of not guilty to the charges filed against him and waived his right to a preliminary hearing. 

Dennis was arrested in Red Bluff on Feb. 20, after he allegedly set up a sexual encounter with a 13-year-old girl, during a "Safe Sam" sting set up by the Tehama County District Attorney's office.

The sting began when investigators from the TCDA first established a fake MySpace account, with an investigator communicating as a 13-year-old girl who was new in the area and looking to make some new friends.

Tehama County District Attorney Gregg Cohen said Dennis used the screen name "jeepnaked7" and chatted online and then on the phone with the would-be victim "Sam."

He said, "Dennis arranged to meet with ‘Sam' so the two could engage in sex acts proposed by Dennis. He didn't not show up for the first date, so we set up a new date. Additional online conversations led to the new meeting to take place at the Community Center in Red Bluff."

After arriving to meet "Sam," Dennis was instead met by an arrest team consisting of investigators from the TCDA's office and Tehama County Sheriff's Department personnel, and taken into custody without incident, according to a TCDA's office press release.

A search warrant signed by Judge John Garaventa was then served at Dennis' Spring Mountain Apartment residence on Edith Avenue, and his computer equipment was confiscated.

Following his arrest, Dennis was booked into the Tehama County Jail with bail set at $87,000. Cohen said if Dennis is convicted of the current charges he could serve 5 years, 8 months in prison.

Operation "Safe Sam" was developed by Cohen to flush out pedophiles that conduct illicit activities on "MySpace," a popular social networking Web site. 

"The Safe Sam operation is ongoing and we are continuing our efforts to catch online predators," said Cohen.