Oakdale Cemetery vandalism suspect behind bars.
Daniel Corey Benson, 22, AKA Cheese, Death Snake, Little Smurf, Big Dan was arrested Tuesday afternoon on November 2nd for probation violation and one count of defacing a grave/ grave site, a felony. On November the 4th Benson was charged with 30 more felony charges of defacing a grave/ grave site. He was also charged on the 4th with 90 misdemeanor counts of defacing a grave/ grave site. Benson was being held on a $150,000 bond, the latest charges brought an additional $70,000 bond bringing his total bond to $225,000. The historic Oakdale Cemetery was devastated by the vandalism and our community is fortunate that good police work is helping to restore justice.
"Cheese" is the son of Robert Benson (absolutely no relation to either Marc or Tre Benson) of 715 Old Point Road of Hampstead, NC. Mr. "Death Snake" lists his occupation as a screen printer and his employer as Thieves Records of 1312 Dock Street, where he was arrested. 1312 Dock is located just behind the New Hanover High School tennis courts. Several students were familiar with him and visited him at that location.
"Little Smurf" Benson, was arrested because of tenacious detective work by Wilmington Police Officer, R.L. Odham. Detective Odham worked a hot lead into an arrest over the past few weeks.
"Big Dan" Benson, your typical tattooed dungeons and dragons wannabe satanist nit-witted mutt, was also arrested for probation violation. Perhaps his probation violation came from his two pending arrests for driving during revocation. Benson's driving privileges were revoked as a result of a 2003 DWI conviction when he was stopped with a blood alcohol content of .13 (.08 is the legal limit). Perhaps it was for his May 2004 arrest for disorderly conduct (no record of conviction found).
Benson's earliest brush with the law, that we could find, came from his multiple charges of injury to personal property. His latest and most notorious law violation, is his conviction of 90 (rough count, so many I had to estimate) felony convictions in February of 2004 for accessing computers, financial identity fraud and obtaining property under false pretenses. For these 90 felonies Benson was sentenced to community service and probation. Rob people, hack into computers and get probation, I guess that taught him a lesson.
The 5'11, 175 pound punk has a trial date of November 18th. I would suggest a call, letter, or email to the DA's office to make sure that the prosecutor knows how serious this crime was to our community.
New Hanover
County
316 Princess Street
Wilmington, NC 28401
Office: 910-341-1401
FAX: 910-815-3560
Also it might be a good idea to let our new Chief of Police how thankful you are that Detective Odham arrested the suspect.
ralph.evangelous@ci.wilmington.nc.us
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