Sex Offender Claimed He Needed To 'Have Sex With Virgin' For Educational Purposes
CENTENNIAL, Colo. (CBS4)- A sex offender who tried to have sex with a 13-year-old child and told her he was a "sexology" student and needed to have sex with a virgin for educational purposes has been sentenced to 21 years in prison.
Benjamin Clinton Stribling started talking to the child on Facebook in the summer of 2013 and offered her money to have sex with him. He told her that he was a college student who was studying sexology and said that he needed to have sex with a virgin for educational purposes.
The Arapahoe County District Attorney said that Stribling, 33, of Elbert, continued to contact the child with the same request for sex. The child repeatedly told him to leave her alone and that she was underage before blocking him from Facebook.
Stribling continued to try to contact her. The family notified law enforcement and took over her online profile.
On July 1, 2013, the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office investigator pretended to be the child and contacted the defendant. After several conversations a meeting was arranged.
Stribling said he would pick up the victim and take her to Colorado Springs where he would engage in sexual activity and videotape it.
On Aug. 2, 2013 deputies arrested Stribling as he arrived at the location where he arranged to meet the child. Among the items he brought with him were two video cameras, a stethoscope, fake permission slips from his "professor," girls underwear, condoms, sex toys and fake rose petals.
Investigators discovered that the defendant was on parole for a similar offense and that he was a registered sex offender. In Feb. 2013 the defendant pled guilty to internet luring of a child and harassment in an El Paso County case. The judge in that case sentenced him to five years probation in the sex offender intense supervision program and ordered him to register as a sex offender.
In May 5, 2015 Stribling pleaded guilty to two counts of induce/entice child sexual exploitation and he was sentenced to 21 years in the Department of Corrections. He will then serve 10 years on the sex offender probation concurrent to his parole.
"The justice system gave this online predator a chance to be rehabilitated. But he didn't want rehabilitation; he wanted to sexually exploit another child. There is a sobering message here for parents: Stay involved in your child's online lives. Predators, like this one, are out there and are relentless about robbing our kids of their innocence to feed their deviant desires. The message for those would-be assaulters of our children is: Law enforcement is out there and they will find you," said District Attorney George Brauchler.
