Drug Task Force finds handgun, cash, marijuana during drug-dealing arrest

Mike Emery, Richmond Palladium-Item
·2 min read
Kenton Ray Bennett Jr. is preliminarily charged with illegal possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon after Wayne County Drug Task Force officers located a handgun during a traffic stop that resulted in Bennett's arrest on a drug-dealing warrant.
Kenton Ray Bennett Jr. is preliminarily charged with illegal possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon after Wayne County Drug Task Force officers located a handgun during a traffic stop that resulted in Bennett's arrest on a drug-dealing warrant.

RICHMOND, Ind. — The Wayne County Drug Task Force caught a Richmond man again.

Kenton Ray Bennett Jr., 33, was arrested Tuesday during a traffic stop made by first-shift Richmond Police Department patrol officers, according to a Drug Task Force news release. Bennett was convicted and sentenced in March 2016 after a previous arrest by the Drug Task Force.

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On Tuesday, Bennett was arrested on a warrant that resulted from a lengthy Drug Task Force investigation into the sale of illegal narcotics, the release said. The warrant charged Bennett with two Level 4 felony counts of dealing heroin and fentanyl.

During the stop, officers located a handgun, cash and marijuana inside the vehicle. That resulted in additional preliminary charges of Level 4 felony possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

Bennett was lodged in the Wayne County Jail with bonds totaling $38,000. A bond of $17,500 was set when the arrest warrant was issued; the new charges carry bonds of $20,000 and $500.

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The 2016 convictions for Level 5 felony dealing heroin and Level 5 felony dealing cocaine qualify Bennett as a serious violent felon. He was sentenced to two years of incarceration and one year of probation for those convictions, which resulted after he sold cocaine and heroin to a confidential informant.

Bennett also has a previous misdemeanor conviction for possession of marijuana.

The standard sentence for a Level 4 felony conviction is six years with a sentencing range of two to 12 years.

Wayne County Drug Task Force officers located cash Tuesday when arresting Kenton Ray Bennett Jr. on a warrant charging him with two counts of dealing drugs.
Wayne County Drug Task Force officers located cash Tuesday when arresting Kenton Ray Bennett Jr. on a warrant charging him with two counts of dealing drugs.

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Drug Task Force finds handgun, cash, marijuana during warrant arrest