James Bennett

"Sam" redirects here. For other uses of "Sam", see Sam (disambiguation).

James Bennett
Nickname	Jimmy
Alias(es)	Sam Phelps
Gender	Male
Profession	Police Officer (Former)
Status	On the Run
Family	Ex-Wife (Unnamed) Neal Caffrey (Son)
Portrayed By	Treat Williams (Elder) Gregg Prosser (Younger)
First Appearance	Honor Among Thieves
Last Appearance	In the Wind
Episode Count	6 episodes
Images of James

James Bennett is the father of Neal Caffrey.

Character Profile

James was a police officer in the Washington, DC Metro Police Department and his partner was Kathryn Hill. One day, his supervising officer caught him pocketing a stack of cash from a raid. Instead of turning James in, his superior officer offered him a choice: prison or work for the Flynns' (ie, tipping them off, shutting down their competition). All of that came to an end when James finally murdered his supervising officer and was arrested by Kathryn.

After a few months, James confessed, turned state's evidence, and was sent to Montana alone as part of Witness Protection. His testimony nearly brought down the whole Flynn Organization.

After ten years in WITSEC, James returned to DC when the Marshals wouldn't tell him the location of his family. During that time, he got closer to Samuel "Sam" Phelps, an undercover cop and old friend of Kathryn.

Years later, James happened to come across Kathryn's email to Sam, so James returned into Neal's life, posing as Sam. He conned Neal, Peter Burke, and Mozzie into helping him find Kathryn's evidence box to prove his innocence, but it only revealed the truth that he was a dirty cop.

In "In the Wind", James killed Senator Terrence Pratt in self-defense, and left his only witness, Peter, to take the blame.

Relationships

Neal Caffrey

Neal is Bennett's son. Three years after Neal was born, Bennett was arrested for murdering a fellow police officer, forcing Neal to grow up in WITSEC under the name Danny Brooks with his mother and Kathryn.

"Danny" grew up believing that Bennett died a hero and wanted to become exactly like his father. However, when he turned 18, Kathryn told him the truth, as well as his real name. "Danny" denounced his father's surname, changed his name back to Neal, and adopted his mother's maiden name, Caffrey.

Kathryn Hill/Ellen Parker

Kathryn and Bennett were partners in the police force, but she was the one who arrested him for murder.

Samuel Phelps

Sam worked in the same department as Bennett and Kathryn back in the day. When Kathryn was put into WITSEC, Sam took over the investigation. In "Vested Interest", it is revealed that Sam actually died of a heart attack in Florida some years ago and Bennett took over his identity to reunite with Neal.