Bond Denied for Pontiac Woman With Long Record of Property Crimes

A Pontiac woman charged with retail fraud in an incident that injured a Bloomfield Township shopper will remain behind bars while she awaits her next court hearing.

Brenda Benton, 48, was denied bond at a brief court appearance and is next scheduled to appear in Oakland County Circuit Court for a pretrial hearing on Aug. 2, records show. She will remain at the Oakland County Jail on $50,000 bond until at least then.

She is charged with one count of felony retail fraud stemming from a July 3 incident at Kmart, where she was confronted by store security in the parking for taking a television without paying, police reports said. She got into a waiting vehicle that sped away with the passenger side door still open.

That door struck a pedestrian and knocked her to the ground. The woman suffered a broken wrist and multiple bruises and abrasions and was treated and released from a local hospital, reports said.

Benton’s request for bond was denied based on her prior record, said Mark Chadwick, her attorney. Prison records show five convictions for property crimes dating back to 1991, and in 2002, Benton pleaded guilty to escaping from prison.

She served eight of a 20-year maximum sentence before her release in December 2010. She has not had any other criminal cases generated since her release, but prison records also show she is known to go by at least 18 aliases.

Chadwick said Benton waived her right a preliminary hearing to the get to the pretrial phase quickly.

“That’s when we’ll determine what our further course of action will be,” Chadwick said. “We’d like to resolve this if the proper deal is in place, but that hasn’t happened yet."

Prosecutors indicated they would seek a sentence enhancement upon conviction on this charge.

Authorities no longer appear to be prosecuting Susan Bell, Benton’s co-defendant that was driving the vehicle.

Bell, 45, was arraigned on charges of leaving the scene of an injury accident; driving with a suspended license; marijuana possession; and having open intoxicants in a motor vehicle, records show. She was in custody at the Oakland County Jail on $10,000 bond but has since been released, jail records show. There are no circuit court case files bearing her name.

Chadwick said he was uncertain of the details, but believed charges in Bell’s case were reduced to misdemeanors and that it was resolved in district court. There is currently no record pertaining to the incident in circuit court files and district court information is not available on line. Further details were immediately unavailable.

For questions about this report, email Art.Aisner@Patch.com.