Benson puts blame on Jerry Lewis

Thursday, Sept. 30, 1999 | 11:41 a.m.

The man who spent more than four years in prison for stalking entertainer Jerry Lewis blames the comedian for the circumstances that led to his imprisonment and denies being a stalker.

In an exclusive interview with "Extra," a Time Telepictures Television production, Gary Benson said after his release from prison Wednesday that Lewis is to blame for a situation that got out of hand.

The interview will air today at 7:30 p.m. on KTNV Channel 13.

Lewis "instigated it in the past," Benson said the day he got out of prison. "He got a hold of my rap sheet and showed it to my wife, who then was working for him as his housekeeper. My wife said he did it the wrong way. He shouldn't have gone about it that way, so she told me to see what he (Lewis) can do to make an apology or compensation for firing my wife soon after."

The stalking began in 1989 when Lewis obtained for his then-housekeeper a lengthy police record on Benson, after she told Lewis she planned to marry Benson. She in turn told Benson about the report, which sparked a string of harassing phone calls to Lewis' home and office. Lewis' ex-housekeeper married Benson. They later divorced.

"I don't think, in a sense, I was stalking him," Benson said after he left the Southern Nevada Correctional Center in Jean. "I made several calls to his house, and I've been to his house to meet with him to settle this dispute."

Following a lengthy investigation, Benson was arrested on Feb. 4, 1994. A plea bargain was reached, and Benson was sentenced on May 15, 1995, to six years in prison on one count of the then-new law of aggravated stalking.

The sentence was suspended on the condition Benson get mental health counseling. Early last year Benson stopped going to treatment sessions at the John Tyler Center in Salt Lake City. At the same time, Lewis said he received a threatening phone call.

Benson, 56, served some of his time in lockdown mental health facilities and some of his time on probation attending outpatient clinics.

In July 1998 District Court Judge Michael Douglas revoked Benson's probation and sent him back to prison amid reports Benson continued to threaten Lewis.

Asked why he pleaded guilty to stalking if he in fact was not committing the crime, Benson said "I just wanted my freedom. I pleaded guilty because I wanted out ... on probation."

Benson denies having ever threatened Lewis.

"I'm a friendly person. I'm not a dangerous person. ... It's all in the past, and I learned a lesson. I suffered my five years in prison for the crime that I'd done, and it's time to get on with my life and move on," Benson said.

Benson has since remarried and has told the Las Vegas Sun that he planned to move to Salt Lake City after his release to join his wife.

Benson offered Lewis a public apology during the interview, saying "I'm sorry and it's never going to happen again. I'm leaving the area and I'm starting a new life somewhere else."

At a hearing last week to extend a temporary protective order first issued against Benson in 1992, Justice of the Peace Jennifer Togliatti warned Benson to stay away from Lewis.

"Mr. Benson, I cannot tell you where to go ... but do not attempt to contact Mr. Lewis by phone, e-mail, cellular ... skywriting," Togliatti said.

Togliatti barred Benson from making any contact with Lewis through Sept. 21, 2000.