BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) -- For the first time, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is weighing in on the controversial modification to convicted sex offender Timothy Vess Benton’s sentence.

As a CBS 42 investigation has covered, in August, Benton was released into house arrest just five years into a 17-year prison sentence.

Benton was indicted by a grand jury in 2017 on 48 counts ranging from human trafficking to sodomy of child from 12 to 16 years old. A guilty plea deal reduced the charges to two counts of sodomy in 2019.

Benton’s release this summer into community corrections by judge Samuel Junkin has left the community outraged and families of Benton’s victims feeling like their voices have been silenced.

The Alabama Attorney General’s Office has taken over the case. District

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