Benjamin Cole, Who Groped Girls From Mansfield Church, Found Guilty Of 2 Counts Of Indecency With A Child

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) - Benjamin Cole, the man accused of groping teenaged girls at a Mansfield church nearly two decades ago, was found guilty Friday, Feb. 11 on two counts of indecency with a child.

Amanda Hodson and Marybeth Arnold were 16 years old at the time of the sexual contact. Cole was 22.

Hodson said she was pressured into a sexual relationship with Cole, who she knew from Heritage Baptist Church in Mansfield.

Cole already served a prison sentence for his unrelated conviction on child pornography possession/online solicitation of a minor in 2018.

He was sentenced to 4-and-a-half years in prison for each count of indecency with a child, to be served concurrently.

The two victims, now adults, first came forward about the abuse in a 2018 interview with CBS 11 News.

They said they decided to open up about being molested after learning Cole had been convicted that year on charges of possession of child pornography and online solicitation of a minor.

They say they realized then what happened to them weren't isolated incidents and that there could be other victims.

Hodson was the first and only witness to take the stand on the first day of trial.

She described growing up as a member of the Heritage Baptist Church in Mansfield, a tightly knit community of roughly 200 people who homeschooled their children, preached obedience to the church, and rarely socialized with outsiders.

Cole's family, she testified, joined the church when she was 10 years old, and grew close to her family -- even vacationing with them.

When she was 14, she attended a church camp where Cole, then 20, served as a counselor. While at the camp, she told jurors, he first touched her by putting his hand on her leg.

Later, while communicating over AOL Instant Messenger, she said Cole began asking her to stand in front of the window of her home and remove certain pieces of clothing, while he watched from outside.

She said she tried to distance herself, but grew afraid.

In 2005, Hodson said, her older sister became engaged and Amanda, then 16, was tasked with serving as a chaperone while her sister visited with her fiancé in his apartment.

Amanda testified, Cole, who was 22 by then, would be at the apartment, as well. It was there, she said, he groped her, forcing his hand down her pants.

"That's when he would start to make threats about how nobody was ever going to love me the way he loved me," she said.