JEFFERSON COUNTY, Mo. — The Jefferson County Sheriff's Department said a man sexually abused a girl multiple times over the span of seven years, and police believe there are more victims.
Benjamin Sexton Jr. was charged with 15 crimes, including eight counts of statutory rape or attempted statutory rape and six counts of statutory sodomy or attempted statutory sodomy in connection. According to charges, the alleged incidents date back more than seven years and took place in multiple counties in the St. Louis area.
Warning: The details of this story are disturbing.
The probable cause statement said the sheriff's department began an investigation last month after a witness caught the victim trying to meet up with Sexton. During an interview with police, the victim told police Sexton sexually abused her starting when she was 7 years old.
She said in recent incidents, he would message her on Snapchat and instruct her to tell her parents she was leaving to walk to a friend's house, but instead, he would pick her up.
She said he would take her to multiple hotels in the area and sneak her in the side door so no one would see them together, the probable cause stated. Police were able to obtain security video at one of the hotels that showed what the victim described to police. An employee at the hotel said Sexton had rented a room there 12 separate times, all of which were "one-night stays."
In the probable cause statement, police said Sexton owned an HVAC and home repair company, and the victim told officers that he had taken her to a home he was renovating, where he sexually assaulted her. Police searched that home and found a mattress with a fitted sheet that matched what the girl described. They also found hair similar to the victim's that was collected for DNA testing.
The victim also told police Sexton often gave her unknown pills and made her smoke drugs from a pipe. She later tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the probable cause statement.
Amy Robins with the child advocacy center in Wentzville shared that while the conversation may be uncomfortable, discussing how to possibly prevent situations like this from happening is crucial.
"When you talk with our kids, we have to talk open and honestly," Robins said. "Our advice is to talk about it early and you talk about it often. From the point that your kids can talk. From the point that they're going out and other people have access to them, you just talk about body safety. The understanding that they have the right to say no to even hugs or kisses as we approach the holidays. Things like that."
The probable cause statement said Sexton was considered a danger to the community and the department believed there were other victims. The victim who spoke to police said she saw him sexually assaulting another child, and police said he was accused of sexual assault by another child in 2015.
The hotels where the incidents occurred were two Drury Inn locations in St. Louis County, a Motel 6 in St. Louis County and a Holiday Inn in Eureka. Other locations included a mobile home park in Jefferson County where the victim and the suspect both lived at the time, an autobody shop where Sexton worked at the time and Sexton's current home in Jefferson County.
"When perpetrators have an opportunity, and they gain access to a victim, you see them access their workplaces, their vehicles, hotels, any of the places that are seen in this case as well," Robins said. "Those other places are not uncommon but I just don't want people to think the perception is that it can't happen when we see most abuse in the home. Or some place where the perpetrator and the child are very comfortable with."
Other victims should call the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau at 636-797-5515. The department's victim services coordinator, Patti Short, can be reached at 636-797-5017 or pshort@jeffcomo.org.
Sexton was taken into custody on Thursday and is being held without bond.
"That's the hard part because adults don't want to talk about this," Robins said. "You don't want to think about these horrible things happening to a child. But if we choose to be silent and choose to not talk about it, that's what allows abuse to thrive is that secrecy and that silence."