KNOXVILLE, Tenn.—Two men who have been accused as the primary suspects in several credit union and abduction/robberies have been ordered to return to Knoxville, Tenn., in order to face federal prosecution.
The two men, Brian Witham and Michael Benanti, are currently in jail in Buncombe County, N.C., where they were arrested in late November. Witham and Benanti are suspects in robberies of Y-12 FCU and Northeast Community CU in Tennessee in which employees were confronted in their homes, held hostage and forced to attempt to withdraw funds from the CU.
Witham is being ordered to appear in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on Jan. 26, records show. Benanti is due to appear Jan. 29 in federal court here.
They're accused of trying to extort money from employees with the Y-12 Federal Credit Union in Oak Ridge on April 28 and the Northeast Community Credit Union in Elizabethton on Oct. 21. In both those cases no money was obtained.
But the two men are also suspects in a robbery at SmartBank in Cedar Bluff, Tenn., in which it is alleged they kidnapped a bank employee, his wife and their baby at their West Knoxville, Tenn., home and forced him to drive to the bank where he worked. In that case, authorities said they obtained money.
Both men face multiple federal counts, including carjacking, attempted armed bank extortion and armed bank extortion.
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