A 30-year-old Centralia man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for attempted kidnapping at the St. Mary’s School playground in April of this year. Deairius Bennett of South Cherry had earlier pleaded guilty to the charge in exchange for the prison sentence being capped at seven years.
Public Defender Craig Griffin requested that Bennett be placed on four years probation. Bennett had been found fit by a physiatrist who had examined him for a possible plea of guilty by reason of insanity.
Centralia Police had said at the time of the arrest that Bennett came to the playground area of St. Mary’s School and pointed to a specific child and told Principal Maria Pryor that was his son and he was there to pick him up. Pryor said when she told Bennett he did not have a child at the school, he claimed to be the Archbishop.
Bennett left as the principal requested, but returned later in the afternoon and began beating on locked doors in the breezeway seeking the child. The school called police and as they arrived Bennett walked away from the school and got into a pickup truck on Maple Street that police later learned was not his. Bennett continued to say the child was his even after the actual parents showed up at the school. At that point, police took Bennett into custody. He reportedly pulled his arm away to try and prevent being handcuffed leading to an obstruction charge that was part of the plea.
In a statement of allocution, Bennett apologized for what he did.
State’s Attorney Tim Hudspeth says Bennett had picked the child at random and he did not know the child.
After serving the seven year prison term, Bennett will have to complete one year of mandatory release.
