Richard BennettA nonprofit director who was leading Chattanooga's initiative to rehabilitate violent offenders and was fired in June for drug and alcohol charges was partially vindicated Friday.
Two of three misdemeanor charges -- possession of a controlled substance and violation of open container laws -- against Richard Bennett, founder of A Better Tomorrow, were dropped by an assistant district attorney in General Sessions Court. But officials have not said why. A charge for possession of marijuana was bound over to a grand jury.
Bennett said he feels "fantastic."
"I knew I was innocent from the beginning," he said.
The charges stem from a June 6 incident in East Lake Park. Police said they found Bennett with his pants unzipped in a minivan with a woman. Present were two open beer bottles and an open bottle of tequila, less than a gram of marijuana and a key-chain container containing hydrocodone pills. Bennett and his wife both said he was doing nothing wrong and that his pants weren't unzipped, his belt buckle was broken. Bennett had a prescription for hydrocodone, he said.
Bennett said he was doing his job, which often includes socializing late at night to gain information on criminals. His nonprofit helps felons and gang members turn away from a life of crime by providing job training, job placement and education services.
At the time of Bennett's arrest in June, Mayor Andy Berke's office was poised to offer Bennett's A Better Tomorrow a nonprofit contract for $300,000. A Better Tomorrow would have been the lead provider for social services to violent offenders that were identified by the police department as part of the city's new Violence Reduction Initiative. The VRI is a program aimed to combat city violence by zeroing in on the city's most violent offenders. These repeat offenders are identified and then told they can change their lives and take advantage of social services or become the focus of intense police enforcement.
But after charges were filed against Bennett the city quickly washed its hands of him. Other nonprofits were invited to apply for involvement in the program, and days after Bennett's arrest Hope for the Inner City director Paul Green met with city officials to request an expansion of his role in the VRI. The city went on to hire Green.
The city did not return calls for comment Friday afternoon.
Though A Better Tomorrow remains active, Bennett said he hasn't been able to do his job in the full capacity since his arrest.
"I'm hopeful that this goes ahead and gets cleared up so that we can continue to do what we do," Bennett said.
Contact Claire Wiseman at cwiseman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347.