BELLINGHAM - A 49-year-old man has been charged with molesting three Bellingham boys younger than 10 years old.

In mid-September, police received a report from Child Protective Services suggesting that Gregory Lee Benson of Redmond had sexual contact with the boys. Benson knew the children.

In separate interviews, each boy told a detective that Benson had reached under their pants to try to touch their privates several times after May 1, 2012, according to charging documents.

One boy told the detective it happened "like almost every time he would spend the night" in Bellingham. The boys recounted how they tried to get him to stop, "but he's too strong."

The youngest boy confided that Benson tried to sexually touch him by pulling down the boy's pants, but Benson did not make contact with his genitals, according to the charges.

Benson was charged Friday, Oct. 26, with two counts of first-degree child molestation and one count of attempted child molestation in the first degree. He has no felony history in Washington state.

His address is listed as a Redmond apartment in the 9000 block of Redmond Woodinville Road.

Reach CALEB HUTTON at caleb.hutton@bellinghamherald.com or call 715-2276.