Arkansasreports.com
Monday, April 22, 2013
Press Release is below.
On April 19th, detectives with the Benton Police Department arrested a second suspect in relation to a threatening email that was sent to the police department. The suspect, identified as Brandon Goodin (W/M, 21 YOA), was arrested after investigative leads led Benton Police Detectives and FBI agents to his residence in Bryant.
Goodin is charged with 2 counts of Terrorism (Class Y Felony), 2 counts of Criminal Attempt to Commit Theft of Property (C Felony), 2 counts of Computer Fraud (D-Felony), and Criminal Attempt to Commit Aggravated Robbery (A Felony). There was evidence found that suggested Goodin was planning on robbing a local bank in the near future and had the weapons in his possession to carry out the crime.
On April 22nd, Goodin attended a bond hearing, at Benton District Court, which was set at $250,000.
Original facts of the case are as follows:
On April 11th, the Benton Police Department received a threatening email from a disguised sender. In the email, a suspect demanded a large amount of cash and gave specific directions on how to transfer it to them. They indicated that if their directions weren’t followed they would kill one person every day until their demands were met.
Since there were detailed and explicit demands in the email, the information was taken very seriously as being credible. Immediately after receiving the email we contacted the Little Rock office of the FBI for assistance in identify those responsible. During the course of the investigation, a number of federal search warrants were obtained due to the complex measures the suspect took to conceal their identity.
Considerable resources were spent by detectives with the Benton Police Department and the FBI in an attempt to identify the suspect in a timely fashion. Additionally, other officers were utilized to protect those areas deemed as possible points of interest to the suspect in the event they followed through with their threat.
On April 13th, a state search warrant was obtained for 1325 S. Summit Road in Benton in relation to this case. Benton Police detectives and FBI agents took a suspect, identified as Benjamin Spears (W/M, 33 YOA), into custody during execution of the warrant without incident and he was transported to the Saline County Detention Facility. A large quantity of electronic devices and other related items were seized from the home in relation to the investigation.
Spears is charged with Terrorism (Class Y Felony), Criminal Attempt to Commit Theft of Property (C Felony), and Computer Fraud (D-Felony). On April 15th, Spears attended a bond hearing, at Benton District Court, which was set at $250,000.
The investigation is on-going
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