The alleged victim, Steven Ray Blanken, was already barred from school property when deputies say he was targeted at home.
RUTLEDGE, Tenn. — A Grainger County school board member facing separate sex crime charges was targeted in a March 8 shooting after someone cut power to his home, deputies said.
The alleged attack on Steven Ray Blanken, 62, has put two criminal cases around one public office. Benjamin Mills, 46, is charged with criminal attempt to commit murder, aggravated burglary, theft and kidnapping in the shooting case, while Blanken remains accused in a separate case involving a 16-year-old girl.
Blanken’s public trouble began before the shooting. Grainger County Schools said a parent came to administrators Feb. 19 and alleged a possible inappropriate relationship between her child and a school board member who also served at times as a substitute teacher. The district said it contacted law enforcement after learning of the allegation and cooperated as the Grainger County Sheriff’s Department opened an investigation. School officials also said they acted quickly to make sure Blanken could not work as a substitute teacher anywhere in the district. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crimes Against Children unit was later asked to assist because of the nature of the report.
Blanken was arrested Feb. 27. Initial reports said he was charged with two counts of aggravated statutory rape involving a 16-year-old girl and released after posting a $20,000 surety bond. Court conditions included GPS monitoring and no contact with the girl or her family. Later court records expanded the case. A grand jury indicted him on three counts of aggravated statutory rape tied to alleged acts between Dec. 23 and Feb. 20. Another indictment filed April 30 accused him of three counts of sexual exploitation of a child. Local reporting said the exploitation counts alleged possession of material showing a minor engaged in sexual activity or simulated sexual activity in February 2026.
The school board then took up the question of Blanken’s seat. He represents District 2 on the Grainger County Board of Education. After his arrest, school leaders said he was banned from school property. In March, the board held a special called meeting and voted to ask District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn to begin the ouster process if Blanken is found guilty or stands convicted of aggravated statutory rape. The request did not remove him on its own. It set a path for action if the criminal case reaches a conviction. That unresolved status made Blanken both a public official and a criminal defendant when deputies say Mills came to his home.
The March 8 incident began in the dark, about 5:20 a.m. Blanken and his wife noticed their home had lost power. They looked outside and saw that a neighbor’s home still had electricity, then called the electric company. The company told them there was no outage in the area and suggested checking the breaker box. Blanken went outside and found all the breakers turned off. Records say two of his dogs, which were usually secured, were running loose in the yard. He flipped the breakers back on, secured the dogs and went back inside. Less than five minutes later, the power went out again.
The second outage sent Blanken back outside. This time, he saw his German shepherd loose again, records say. After restoring power at the breaker box, he heard a man yelling near a chicken coop. Deputies say the man was Mills. The man walked toward Blanken and fired one shot. Blanken ran to a truck in the driveway, but two more shots were fired. One hit the truck’s windshield. Blanken then ran from the property to a neighbor’s home and called 911. Later that day, an officer collected a small rat shot pellet that Blanken said he had removed from his stomach. Records did not describe the extent of any medical treatment.
Inside the house, Blanken’s wife told deputies she heard at least one popping sound after her husband went out for the final time. She said a man entered the home and pointed what she thought was a gun at her. The man made the case personal, according to court records. “Your husband is a pedophile and he’s gonna pay for it,” he said. Investigators said he ordered her to lie face down on the floor. When her phone went off while she held it, he grabbed the device and ran. The wife also fled to a neighbor’s home. Deputies later found the phone and used it in the investigation that led to Mills.
Deputies who responded found the home’s power off and the back door open. They cleared the house before gathering statements. The couple could not give a detailed description of the man, other than saying he was tall. That limited description left physical evidence and the phone as central pieces of the case. Investigators have not publicly said where the phone was found, whether they recovered a firearm or whether Mills made any statement after his arrest. They also have not said whether the person who entered the home was waiting there while Blanken was outside or entered after the shots were fired.
The charges filed against Mills reflect the path deputies say the attack took through the property. The attempted murder charge comes from the allegation that he fired at Blanken outside. The aggravated burglary charge comes from the entry into the home. The theft count comes from the phone. The kidnapping count comes from the allegation that Blanken’s wife was held on the floor during the intrusion. The sheriff’s department has not announced a public court date for Mills. It also was not clear from available reports whether he had entered a plea or whether a lawyer had appeared for him in court.
The shooting case has not changed the separate status of Blanken’s charges. He remains accused, not convicted, in the school board matter. The school system’s statement placed the district’s role at the start of the reporting chain, saying administrators notified law enforcement and stayed cooperative once the allegation was turned over to investigators. The board’s ouster request depends on the outcome of court proceedings. That means Grainger County now has a school board seat tied to a pending criminal case, an alleged predawn attack and a second defendant accused of trying to punish the board member outside the legal process.
The scene described in records was more like a staged ambush than a chance confrontation. Power was cut while the couple was home. Dogs were freed or left loose. A breaker box was switched off twice. The gunman appeared near an outbuilding, not at the front door. The wife then faced an intruder inside the home while Blanken ran for help. Still, several facts remain unknown, including when the suspect arrived, how he accessed the breaker box, why the dogs were loose and whether the alleged attack was planned alone.
The immediate next step is court action in Mills’ attempted murder case, though no date has been made public in available reports. Blanken’s separate indictments and possible ouster process remain pending as Grainger County waits for the courts to decide what happens next.
Author note: Last updated July 6, 2026.