Dixon man charged with home invasion, firing a gun in rural Sterling

MORRISON – Whiteside County deputies arrested a Dixon felon accused of breaking into a rural Sterling home.

Brett E. Benters, 38, was wanted in Lee County for violating a court order, Sheriff John Booker said Friday.

They found him Wednesday afternoon at a home in rural Sterling, where a resident said Benters, who knew the occupant, forced his way inside. They got into a fight, and Benters fired a handgun several times inside and outside the home, Booker said.

No one was hit, but both men were treated at CGH Medical Center for minor injuries resulting from the scuffle, he said.

Benters is charged with home invasion causing an injury, which carries 6 to 30 years, plus 20 years for the use of a gun, aggravated battery, which carries 3 to 7 years, and being a felon in possession of a weapon, punishable by 2 to 5 years.

He is in Whiteside County jail on $100,000 bond and has a preliminary hearing July 18.

Benters was sentenced to 4 years in prison on Oct. 29, 2008 for selling narcotics in a park, to 5 years for burglary in 2003, and to 4 years’ probation for burglary and making meth in 2002, all in Whiteside County.

The crime the warrant resulted from in Lee County was not available.