Editor’s note: The following story includes details of crimes and alleged crimes some may find disturbing. Read at your discretion.
A Campbell County teen charged this past winter with 22 crimes, including trying to seduce an 11-year-old and compelling a sex act from a dog, will be sentenced in November after pleading guilty to five child sexual exploitation charges, court documents show.
Corbin Behnke, 19, pleaded guilty to four counts of solicitation to commit sexual exploitation of children, and one more of sexual exploitation of children at a Sept. 4 hearing in Campbell County District Court, according to a proposed conviction order the prosecutor filed two days later.
Campbell County Attorney Nathan Henkes has agreed to drop the other charges in exchange for Behnke’s guilty pleas.
Also in exchange for those pleas, Henkes has agreed to argue for a total prison sentence of eight to 10 years on the four solicitation counts, plus another five years of supervised probation to follow, during which Behnke would not be allowed to have contact with any of the case victims.
Behnke is still free to argue for any sentence he wishes under the plea agreement filed last week. His sentencing hearing is set for Nov. 20.
A chance exists that Campbell County District Court Judge Michael McGrady will not agree with Henkes’ suggested sentence and could order a longer or shorter sentence of his own.
The plea agreement says Behnke won’t have the ability to withdraw his guilty pleas at sentencing if McGrady hands down a tougher sentence than Henkes has agreed to argue.
Behnke did not respond by publication time to a Thursday morning request for comment.
Vigilante Bust
Court documents say authorities charged Behnke after a 15-year-old Gillette boy who was weary of Behnke’s advances made an 11-year-old snapchat decoy to catch him.
Behnke would reportedly linger around the 15-year-old’s classes and stare at him, send him repeated sexual advances and requests for lewd photos on Snapchat, add the boy with new Snapchat accounts when the boy would block him, and ask him for a ride home repeatedly despite the boy’s refusals.
On the weekend of Dec. 2, 2023, the boy and another teen his age created a fake Snapchat account displaying a photo of a random 11-year-old boy they found on Google, says an affidavit filed in the case.
Behnke contacted the account.
The decoy told Behnke he was 11, but Behnke started asking for photos of his genitalia anyway, says the affidavit.
The teens showed the exchange to their school counselor Dec. 5, which prompted a response from Campbell County Sheriff’s Investigator Heather Monson.
Monson went to Behnke’s home that evening and asked if she could go through his phone. He said yes, the document says.
The affidavit says investigators later found a photo of a dog licking Behnke’s genitalia. However, Behnke did not ultimately plead guilty to the bestiality charge pertaining to that reported discovery; that one is scheduled to be dismissed.
A 14-year-old girl also spoke with Monson, saying she blocked Behnke after he sent her a lewd photo and kept asking her to “send nudes,” the affidavit says.
‘Uh, I’m 12!’
Monson talked with other minors she found via witnesses or Behnke’s phone.
One boy, age 14, had been contacted by Behnke via Snapchat, the document says. Monson interviewed him by phone since he lives in another city.
The teen said Behnke asked for a lewd photo of him, so he blocked Behnke. The boy was 13 at the time, which Behnke reportedly knew.
The affidavit also says Behnke sent Snapchat messages to a 12-year-old boy on Nov. 21, 2023. He asked if the boy was straight, the document adds.
The boy said he wasn’t sure yet.
Behnke asked the boy to send “dic pics,” the affidavit says.
“Uh, I’m 12!!” answered the boy, according to the document, which says Behnke’s response was to send pictures of himself in his underwear.
More Boys
Behnke is reported to have had a more reciprocal conversation with a 16-year-old male Nov. 26, when the pair shared a lewd exchange.
The affidavit says Behnke also exchanged 75 messages with a boy who looked about 12 to Monson, but who said he was about 14 and lived in the Philippines.
The boy sent lewd photographs and one solo sex video, allegedly.
The affidavit says Behnke had a sexual chat exchange with a 16-year-old boy in late September as well.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
