LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A 34-year-old Covina man is expected to plead guilty today to carrying out an online harassment campaign against two teenage girls who rejected his sexual advances.
Carl Bennington will face up to 10 years behind bars as a result of his guilty plea to two federal cyberstalking charges. However, prosecutors have agreed to recommend a prison sentence of no more than 21 months if the defendant follows all conditions of his supervised release, court papers show.
A sentencing date will be determined following his plea in Los Angeles federal court.
Prosecutors allege that from at least February 2016 through last March, Bennington repeatedly used various social media accounts to harass the victims, sending hundreds of messages threatening to commit acts of physical and sexual violence against them if they did not submit to his advances.
Neither teen ever met Bennington in person, according to court papers.
When one of the girls demanded that Bennington stop harassing her, Bennington replied that he was going to kill her and her family, prosecutors allege.
Bennington is an online promoter of the “involuntary celibate'' subculture, based around the inability to find a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one, a state that adherents describe as “inceldom'' or “incelibacy,'' federal prosecutors said.
The U.S. Attorney's Office stated that in addition to the threatening and harassing messages he sent to young women and girls, Bennington frequently made statements on internet groups promoting incel ideology.
The ideology promotes the view that women oppress men and have too much freedom to choose their own sexual partners. The ideology ranges in tone from sad and self-loathing to advocating the “absolute hatred'' of women, court documents state.
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