BY MARIE McCAIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MASON -- Police say a 20-year-old Cincinnati man who works part time at Kings Island offered to take a teen-age girl out an employee exit as the park closed but forced her into a restroom and raped her.
Paramount's Kings Island normally closes at 10 p.m. but stayed open three extra hours Friday because of a promotional dance party, park spokeswoman Barbara Colnar said.
James H. Bennett, a seasonal park employee, is scheduled for arraignment today in Mason Municipal Court on charges of rape and kidnapping.
Mason Police Detective Todd Carter said the 15-year-old girl told police she and Mr. Bennett had met several times before, but she described him as only an acquaintance.
"She said she went to Kings Island with friends and happened to run into the suspect after the event was over," Detective Carter said. "They were part of a mass exodus toward the exit."
The girl told police she left her friends and broke off from the crowd with Mr. Bennett, who was not working that evening, because he told her he knew a quicker way out of the park through an employee exit.
A female park employee heard a noise and found the two in the restroom. The woman told police she pulled the man off the teen and he ran away.
Police and security personnel searched the park but could not find Mr. Bennett, Detective Carter said. Investigators contacted relatives of Mr. Bennett's and Saturday afternoon, he was brought to the Mason Police Department by his mother.
Both police and park officials were quick to call it an isolated incident, saying that nothing like this has happened in the park's 26-year history.
"We've worked closely with Kings Island, and it's always been a very safe place," Detective Carter said. "There was nothing typical about that night."
Mr. Bennett was hired by Kings Island in April; however, Ms. Colnar would not say what he did. She said the status of his job will be decided once the police investigation is complete.
She also declined to identify the female employee who helped the girl, but said the woman would be commended.
