Jacques Could Face
Death in Bennett Case

The death of Brooke Bennett, 12, whose body was discovered a week ago in a recently-dug grave, was indeed murder, federal officials said this week.

Both Bennett’s uncle, Michael S. Jacques of Randolph, and her former step-father, Raymond Gagnon of Texas, were ordered held without bail in a federal court hearing in Burlington Monday.

Jacques was charged with kidnapping which, if proved in federal court, could lead to the death penalty. Gagnon was charged with obstruction of justice.

Although investigation has shown Bennett’s death to be a homicide, the Office of the Medical Examiner, which performed the autopsy, has still not issued a report on the cause of death, said Asst. U. S. Atty. Craig Nolan.

Presumably, a murder charge could be filed later if the prosecutors believe they can prove that Jacques was the actual killer.

The obstruction of justice charge against Gagnon is related to evidence that, at Jacques’ request, he altered entries that Jacques had made in Bennett’s MySpace account to make it appear they had been written earlier. Jacques himself had written the entries, not Bennett, police say.

Both Jacques and Gagnon face a probable cause hearing next Thursday, July 17, at federal court in Burlington.

Federal officials have taken over the case, based on the inter-state emails and web postings that helped lead to the arrests of Jacques and Gagnon. Federal prosecutors have dropped charges of aggravated sexual assault filed against Jacques a week earlier in Orange County District Court. They also did not move ahead with proposed charges of juvenile sexual abuse against Gagnon in Royalton.

Both sets of charges could be brought again in the future. Both relate to alleged assaults, not against Bennett but against the so-called Juvenile 1.

Police documents allege that Jacques sexually assaulted Juvenile 1 from the time she was nine (she is now 14) and that Gagnon also assaulted her in Royalton, with Jacques present.

Gagnon was also charged this week with possessing child pornography in Alabama.

Elaborate Plot

During the last week, there has been more complete disclosure of emails in the case. Police believe the emails show an elaborate plot over years to terrorize Juvenile 1 and convince her that a "Breckenridge Program" sex ring was overseeing her "training." The young girl received emails from at least two accounts, as well as from Jacques. Computer records show, however, that posts from the other two email accounts, named "E" and "C," were actually all written by Jacques.

Jacques’ compulsion to controlling behavior was also shown, police believe, in the way he set elaborate tricks to throw police off the track as he allegedly prepared to violently assault Bennett.

He drew Juvenile 1 into the plot by asking her to help him prepare for what Juvenile 1 was told was an "initiation" into the Breckenridge program.

Then he took several steps, police say, to cover his tracks.

Jacques created the MySpace postings and an email trail that made it appear Bennett had found an admirer on the Internet and was going to leave town to meet him. He also planted some of Bennett’s clothing beside a road in Brookfield, some of it stained with semen, and then "disclosed" a sneaker to police, who found the other items, leading to a diving search of Sunset Lake.

Finally, he staged the "drop-off" of Bennet in front of the security cameras at Cumberland Farms before allegedly picking her up a little later and taking her to his home.

She was never seen alive again.

At a press conference last Thursday in Burlington, Atty. Gen. William Sorrell emphasized that the very existence of the "Breckenridge program" or any other "sex ring" has not been proven, and he hinted that police are doubtful that it ever existed. Police at present do not expect more victims to come forward or more adult perpetrators to be found, he said.

Political Ramifications

The Bennett case began to take on political ramifications almost immediately. Both Gov. Jim Douglas and Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie went public with criticisms of court decisions in this and other cases. Dubie said he would attempt to raise support for stricter mandatory sentences for child molesters, along the lines of the "Jessica’s Law" in other states.

Others, however, including some prosecutors and social service agencies dealing with children, said that tougher mandatory sentences would make it harder to prosecute sex abuse cases. The reason, they said, is that victims will be increasingly reluctant to testify against their abusers if that means he/she would automatically be sent to prison for 25 years.

This reluctance will be especially strong when abuse takes place within a family setting, they said.

Windsor Co. State’s Atty. Robert Sand suggested this week that the highest priority should be to get more convictions, not to hand out longer sentences when people are convicted.

He noted that Vermont laws were tightened a few years ago, and would now prevent an early release like the one Jacques received after his 1993 conviction. He served four and a half years of a 6- to 10-year sentence, and later was discharged early from probation.

What the system needs, Sand said, is not stiffer penalties but more investigators dedicated full time to sex offenses. He also suggested allowing more evidence of prior offenses in sex trials.