Man promoting ‘incel’ ideology threatened to commit physical, sexual violence against teen girls: FBI

A California man who promotes a misogynistic ideology that targets and terrorizes women is accused of harassing teenage girls who rejected his sexual advances.

Carl Bennington, 33, was arrested on a federal cyberstalking charge Tuesday after an FBI investigation uncovered a years-long “internet harassment campaign” against two of those girls.

The suspect has used several social media accounts since at least February 2016 to harass young girls and women, threatening to commit physical and sexual violence against them if they did not submit to his sexual advances, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court of Los Angeles.

Authorities said Bennington was an active participant of internet groups that promote “incel,” which is short for involuntary celibate. The fringe movement blames women for their own sexual failings and promotes the view that women oppress men and have too much freedom to choose sexual partners.

“The ideology ranges in tone from sad and self-loathing to advocating the ‘absolute hatred’ of women,” prosecutors said in a statement.

Bennington also posted multiple social media messages about Elliot Rodger, a hate-filled college student who murdered six people and wounded more than a dozen others in a stabbing and shooting rampage at UC Santa Barbara in 2014, court documents show.

Rodger, who was a 22-year-old virgin and claimed he “never even kissed a girl,” has since become an “incel hero” as a video and a manifesto he left before killing himself suggest his hate for women was a key motive behind the massacre.

Bennington, who lives in the San Gabriel Valley city of Covina, never even met any of the girls he’s accused of harassing. One of the victims once demanded that he stop harassing her, but he replied that he was going to kill her and her family, authorities said.

If convicted, Bennington could face up to five years in prison. His detention hearing was scheduled for Thursday and his arraignment is set for May 11.