2 Cobb officers arrested in separate sexual battery, child abuse cases

Two Cobb County police officers were arrested days apart following separate investigations by other law enforcement agencies.

One is accused of sexual battery, according to investigators. The other is accused of cruelty to children. Both are now on administrative leave pending the outcome of their criminal cases, Cobb police Chief Dan Ferrell said.

“The residents of Cobb County expect and deserve law enforcement officers who uphold the law and demonstrate integrity at all times, both on and off duty,” Ferrell said in a statement. “We are committed to following the facts, respecting due process and taking all appropriate action to maintain the trust and confidence of our community.”

It’s the third time in a week a metro Atlanta law enforcement officer has been arrested.

In one of the Cobb cases, the Canton Police Department requested the GBI’s assistance in a child abuse investigation in September, the state agency said. Late last week, officer Withman Benjamin, 47, of Canton, was charged with one count of sexual battery against a child under 16.

According to his arrest warrant, Benjamin is accused of touching the breasts and buttocks of a child without her consent. He was booked into the Cherokee County jail and released the following day on $3,500 bond, the sheriff’s office said.

Benjamin has been employed by Cobb police since February 2019, according to Georgia’s Peace Officer Standards and Training Council.

In a separate case involving Cobb police, officer Tyler Bertolini, 30, of Canton, was charged with two counts of cruelty to children, one first degree and the other third degree, following an investigation by the Cherokee Sheriff’s Office, police said.

Bertolini allegedly did “strike said victim five times on the back side of the right leg with such force that it caused welts, bruises, noticeable discoloration and excessive pain,” his arrest warrant states. “Said accused then pushed said victim down on the floor, where the pain was so severe that said victim could not immediately stand back up.”

Bertolini began serving with Cobb police in September 2020, according to Peace Officer Standards and Training Council records. He was arrested Tuesday and released from the Cherokee jail the same day on $7,500 bond, the sheriff’s office said.

In a separate case last week, officer Rylee Conner Willis, 21, of Stone Mountain, was charged with two counts each of child molestation and enticing a child for indecent purposes, Gwinnett County police said. All of the charges are felonies.

According to police, a parent reported finding “elicit messages” from an adult to her teenage daughter, who is under 16. Willis was identified as the suspect.