(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — A South Carolina man accused of wanting to enslave and eat a child has been released from jail on bond.
Justin Teeter Bensing of Myrtle Beach was released from jail last month after posting a $20,000 bond, according to court records.
Bensing, 36, was arrested in Greenville County in early February on charges of criminal solicitation of a minor. He was one of more than 40 people facing charges after an investigation into child sex trafficking.
Bensing is accused of soliciting an undercover officer he thought was a child. According to arrest warrants, Bensing asked if she was “ready to be a full-time baby maker and sex slave.”
During a news conference announcing the arrests last month, Sheriff Will Lewis said that Bensing wanted to “physically cannibalize” a child and to engage in sex acts with animals.
“Depravity doesn’t even begin to describe this,” the sheriff said.
Court records listed no attorney for Bensing, and no further court appearances have been scheduled. According to state police, Bensing had no prior arrest record in South Carolina.
Reached at his home in Myrtle Beach, Bensing’s father said Tuesday that his son wasn’t available and allegations that he had wanted to eat a child were not true.
“The only thing I have to say on Justin’s behalf is that any charges of cannibalism are not correct,” Donald Bensing told a reporter for The Associated Press, before disconnecting the call.