The Horror Intensifies

From the Louisville Courier-Journal:

Five more rape charges have been added against a Bullitt County man who already has pleaded not guilty to a list of more than 7,500 sexual abuse charges. Perry Bennington, 57, was arrested Monday after a female relative told police he allegedly raped and sodomized her starting when she was 6 and ending when she was 22, said Detective Scott McGaha with the Bullitt County Sheriff’s Department.

The five new rape charges were lodged after a second victim – a female relative of Bennington’s girlfriend – told McGaha she also allegedly had been raped by Bennington several times when she was a child. Now, Bennington is charged with 4,235 counts of sodomy and 3,290 counts of rape, McGaha said.

Bennington’s girlfriend Linda L. Wethington, 46, was arrested Wednesday after she allegedly threatened to kill the first victim, McGaha said. Wethington was charged with intimidation of a witness involved in a legal process, which is a felony. Wethington is now cooperating with police in the case, McGaha said. During the years the first victim reported being abused, she became pregnant with a child who died at the age of 9 months, he said. The body of that child could be exhumed next week, McGaha said.

The first victim told McGaha that she tried to contact police during the time period she says she was abused, and McGaha said he is investigating whether she asked for help and nothing was done. Bennington and Wethington are being held at the Bullitt County detention center in lieu of a $1 million bond and a $50,000 bond, respectively, McGaha said. Bennington is scheduled to be back in court at 2:30 p.m. April 9 and Wethington is scheduled to be in court April 16, McGaha said.