A 46-year-old man faces multiple charges after authorities say he shut off power to lure a local school board member outside his home and fired shots at him in March.
Benjamin Mills has been charged with criminal attempt to commit murder, aggravated burglary, theft, and kidnapping in connection with the early morning incident on March 8 in Grainger County, Tennessee. According to court records, Steve Blanken, a 62-year-old member of the Grainger County Board of Education, noticed his power was off around 5:20 a.m. He stepped outside to check the breaker box and encountered a man who fired shots at him, striking his truck. Blanken's wife reported that the intruder entered their home, pointed what she believed was a gun at her, and stated that her husband was a pedophile who would pay for it. Blanken had been arrested in February on charges related to an alleged inappropriate relationship with a 16-year-old girl. He faces additional counts of statutory rape and sexual exploitation of a minor. Investigators later recovered the wife's phone and arrested Mills. It remains unclear when Mills is scheduled to appear in court. Neither victim could provide a detailed description of the suspect beyond noting that he was tall.