Five-Time Convicted Felon Gets First Prison Sentence for Hitting Medical Providers, Previously Avoided Prison Time After Sexually Assaulting Wawa Employee
Last month, Benjamin Franklin Cunningham, 38, was transferred into the custody of the Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) to serve an 18-month prison for battering medical staff. This comes after a long line of incidents resulting in several felony and misdemeanor convictions, along with a number of dropped cases.
From 2012-2019, Cunningham stood accused of offenses ranging from aggravated battery, grand theft, stalking, indecent exposure of sexual organs (twice) and domestic assault, but he was not convicted of any of the charges. During the same time period, he did sustain convictions for misdemeanor battery, felony battery by repeat offender (twice), violating pretrial release conditions and property damage. The FDC website shows he was not sentenced to any prison time.
In January 2020, Cunningham was convicted of a misdemeanor count of indecent exposure of sexual organs and sentenced to one year of probation. Cunningham pleaded no-contest and Judge Thomas Jaworski imposed a one-year probation sentence.
In April 2021, Cunningham was arrested on a warrant for yet another misdemeanor indecent exposure charge. He later pleaded no contest and Jaworski sentenced him to 270 days in jail, with the jail time being concurrent with a six-month felony drug-related sentence he received around the same time period.
On November 16, 2024, Gainesville Police Department officers arrested Cunningham and charged him with felony indecent exposure by repeat offender. Cunningham exposed his genitals to a worker while inside the Wawa gas station at 1007 E. University Ave. The police report states, “Video surveillance clearly showed [Cunningham] exposing his penis to the victim while it was flaccid at the register. Video showed [Cunningham] coming back to the register a second time and intentionally exposing his penis to the victim, fully erected. At the ending of the video, [Cunningham] is seen staring into the business from the outside, through a glass window at the victim.”
The victim reportedly called Cunningham a “regular customer” at the Wawa located across the street from University of Florida campus. She said Cunningham tried to contact her again to "apologize" and she told him to leave the store.
Cunningham later took a plea deal where he was convicted and sentenced to 210 days in jail. The agreement was signed by Assistant State Attorney Darla Whistler and accepted by Judge David Kreider.
In December 2025, Cunningham was hospitalized for an unverified reason. When he was being released, he became very angry and started threatening staff shortly before attacking. Cunningham allegedly damaged a door in the process. Cunningham struggled with multiple employees, battering at least three medical staff.
On August 10, 2026, Senior Judge Peter Sieg imposed an 18-month prison sentence after Cunningham entered a no-contest plea agreement to three counts of battery on a medical provider.
Editor’s Notes: Court records indicate Cunningham may have had six felony adjudications at the time of his December 2025 arrest, but GnvInfo has only independently verified five.
