Champaign man sentenced to three years in prison for stalking UI student | News

URBANA — A Champaign man previously convicted of breaking into a Campustown apartment was sentenced to three years in prison for stalking a University of Illinois student.

Champaign County Judge Roger Webber handed down the sentence Monday to Edward F. Bennet, 29, after he pleaded guilty in March to stalking a woman and trying to climb through another woman's bedroom window in two separate incidents last year.

In the stalking case, a woman reported to Champaign police on Aug. 14, 2022, that she was leaving the Illini Tower at 409 E. Chalmers St. when she was approached by an unknown man who grabbed her , hugged her and asked if she needed company, which she refused.

Later she saw the same man on the UI Quad, he called her and followed her.

She reported the incident two days later after seeing him enter the Illini Tower and asking a friend to escort him out of the building.

The woman took a photo of the man and UI police identified him as Bennet based on previous encounters.

Bennet already had an active trespass notice for all UI property, and he had obtained an i-Card using a false date of birth in order to gain access to university buildings.

In the second incident, a woman reported to Champaign police on August 21, 2022 that she was sleeping when she heard someone open her bedroom window.

She yelled at the intruder, who said he was “maintenance” and ran away.

It was attached to the window, which was bent as if someone had opened it with a tool, due to fingerprints on the glass.

Recommending that Bennet be sentenced to six years in prison, Deputy Prosecutor En-Chi Lin called UI Police Investigator Mohamed Alsaqri to the stand to help piece together a timeline of Bennet's reported encounters with UI students.

Alsaqri testified that between September 2021 and August 2023, 16 different women – all between the ages of 17 and 25 – allegedly reported incidents of stalking and multiple unwanted contacts with a man identified by police as Bennet.

Bennet allegedly tried to force the door of a campus party, chased after various women, followed others around campus, into classrooms and residential buildings.

He also allegedly stole the property of two other men.

Lin argued that despite the repeated arrests and trespassing notices, it appeared Bennet's behavior was only escalating and that the court needed to protect students from UI.

She also noted that Bennet was on probation at the time of his arrest for a residential burglary conviction in August 2022.

In this case, a 19-year-old woman asleep in a residence in the 100 block of East Daniel Street was awakened around 8:20 a.m. by a man later identified as Bennet, sitting next to her on her bed, and patted her.

He ran and was later found with several stolen debit cards and a student ID.

Recommending that Bennet be sentenced to a community sentence, public defender Katie Giuffre argued that many of the incidents described by the state would not meet the burden of stalking and noted that he never caused physical harm – making others uncomfortable was not a crime.

Giuffre noted that Bennet bounced around foster homes at a young age where he was subjected to significant physical and emotional abuse.

Giuffre said he had few resources and no support network; Bennet may have just been trying to connect with others, but first he needs help with his mental health and substance abuse issues.

“I’m sorry I made anyone uncomfortable,” Bennet said.

“I really want to do well in life and pursue higher dreams of education and becoming a lasting good leader and present in the community.”

Bennet faces one to six years in prison and must serve two years of probation upon his release.

He had already served 285 days in prison.