Two Benton Harbor men are facing federal charges for the robbery of the Dunham’s Sports store in Benton Township and the kidnapping of its manager last Thursday.
U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said Tuesday 33-year-old Darnell Bishop and 25-year-old Dontrell Nance are accused of trailing the store’s manager and then approaching him outside his home around 10 p.m. Thursday.
“Then blindfolded, handcuffed, and placed him in the back of his own car,” Totten said. “The defendants then drove the manager to an unknown area and threatened the manager with a gun to his head until the manager disclosed the passcode for the security system to the store and told them how to access it.”
Totten said Bishop then went to the store and stole 123 handguns, carrying them out of the store in two Yeti coolers taken from the store. The suspects later released the store manager, who called police in the early morning hours of Friday.
James Deir with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it’s likely the suspects intended to sell the stolen guns.
“There’s a whole litany of folks who can’t buy these legally, so there is a black market out there,” Deir said. “All of these guns — you can safely assume — in investigations like this in my experience, these were headed to the streets.”
Totten said the suspects were caught as a result of a failed transaction on CashApp. One of them tried to steal money from the debit card of the store manager via the app while still holding him in captivity. That led to police surveillance of the suspects, and ultimately, to the retrieval of 122 of the 123 stolen guns.
Totten said Bishop and Nance have confessed to their roles in the robbery. They face more than 20 years in prison.
