Feds: 2nd Benton Harbor man pleads in gun store theft, kidnapping

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Benton Harbor man has admitted to kidnapping a sporting goods store manager with a pistol, then stealing over 120 pistols from the store, authorities say.

Darnell Bishop, 33, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan announced Tuesday in a release. He faces up to life in prison, according to the release.

Bishop and Dontrell Nance, also of Benton Harbor, were both charged in the November theft of 123 handguns from the Dunham’s Sports near Benton Harbor.

As part of the plea agreement, the attorney’s office says Bishop admitted that he and Nance kidnapped the Dunham’s manager with a pistol and convinced the manager to reveal the store’s alarm code. Bishop said he went to the store, stole 123 pistols and took them away in two coolers, according to the office.

“I would say this was about every handgun they had in the store,” Detective Sgt. Tyler Tiefenbach with the Benton Township Police Department said in November.

All 123 guns have been recovered, according to the attorney’s office.

Nance previously pleaded guilty to the same charges: kidnapping and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. The office says Nance’s sentencing is scheduled for later this month.

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