GREENVILLE, S.C. — A man who South Carolina authorities say wanted to enslave and eat a child has been sentenced to probation.
News outlets quote court records as saying 36-year-old Justin Teeter Bensing pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal solicitation of a minor and was sentenced Aug. 9 to 10 years in prison, but the sentence was suspended to five years of probation.
A sentencing sheet The Greenville News obtained from the Greenville County Clerk of Court's Office says Bensing was diagnosed with autism and considered low risk. The judge said no prior criminal charges were also among the factors determining Bensing's sentence.
Bensing had been accused of soliciting an undercover officer he thought was a girl. Bensing's attorney James Brehm said Saturday that the cannibalism comments were Bensing joking with someone else and unrelated to the investigation.