Mother ruled incompetent to stand trial

An Oconee County woman who took her four daughters across the country allegedly violating a custodial arrangement has been ruled incompetent to stand trial. The announcement was made today by General Sessions Judge Eugene Griffith. Instead, the judge announced, Laverne Marie Bennett is to be remanded to the custody of the state Department of Mental Health, pending a commitment hearing to be held in the Probate Court. In the summer of 2013, a nationwide alert was initiated in Oconee County to be on the lookout for Bennett and her daughters. State police found them at an interstate rest stop in Idaho. To the gratitude of the daughters’ father, mother and daughters were returned safely to South Carolina. Since then, Mrs. Bennett was arrested again by the Oconee Sheriff’s Office and charged with removing an ankle monitor.