A man who spent over two decades in a federal prison was nabbed at a Missouri bus stop after a crime spree that took him through Clear Lake, Iowa. Authorities captured a St. Paul man accused of kidnapping a man at gunpoint outside a nightclub in St. Paul on Tuesday night. The kidnapped man says he was forced to drive to Clear Lake, and Clear Lake cops found that the suspect had boarded a bus that was headed for Kansas City. Fifty-four-year-old Richard Benfield was arrested by police in Bethany, Missouri on New Year’s Day. Cops say he was carrying a pellet pistol. Benfield will be charged with first degree burglary, second degree assault and kidnapping. West St Paul police chief Terry Cook says Benfield fled just as authorities were closing in to arrest him in a string of armed robberies that took place in Mendota Heights, St Louis Heights, Inver Grove Heights, and an attempted robbery in St Paul just a few hours before the final incident. Fifty-four-year-old Richard Benfield allegedly robbed a tobacco store in West St. Paul Monday and shot at a witness who tried to follow him. Then on Tuesday, police say he kidnapped a man at gunpoint and forced him to drive to Clear Lake, Iowa. Buddies at the “Commercial Club” bar in West St Paul say Benfield was a nice, fun-loving guy but got into drugs and his life went downhill.
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