'Most Wanted' fugitive arrested in Chatham

PITTSBORO -- Chatham County sheriff's deputies arrested one of "America's Most Wanted" fugitives Thursday.

Derrick Shawnte Benjamin, 29, is charged with receiving stolen property. He is accused of running off with about $1 million entrusted to him by another thief who was part of the third-largest armored-car robbery in U.S. history a year ago.

The robbery happened in May 2007 in Richland County, S.C. Several men -- two of whom worked for Express Teller, the company operating the armored car -- allegedly stole $10 million from the vehicle.

Two of the men assaulted a guard as he fueled the armored car and forced him back inside. The other guard, allegedly an accomplice, then drove the vehicle to a rendezvous point where two more suspects helped them unload the cash.

Rounding up all the suspects but Benjamin by January, authorities in South Carolina retrieved about $6 million, but the rest is still missing.

In March, the case was featured in an episode of Fox TV's "America's Most Wanted." About a month later, the Chatham County Sheriff's Office got a tip from a viewer that Benjamin might be in the area.

"Once every 30 or 40 years you might get something like this," Capt. Mike Roberson said.

Benjamin was living in Siler City with Tamara Jena Johnson, 22, deputies say. Johnson was driving a rental car with Benjamin as a passenger when deputies spotted them Thursday on the Pittsboro traffic circle. They were stopped south of there, on U.S. 15-501/N.C. 87 at Old Sanford Road.

Both were charged with marijuana possession, and Benjamin was charged with misdemeanor carrying of a concealed weapon: a 9mm handgun.

"Mr. Benjamin immediately identified himself and was cooperative," Roberson said.

Deputies searched a Ford Mustang belonging to one of Benjamin's family members, two vehicles associated with Johnson, a rented storage unit, and Johnson's house at 110 Amy Lane in Siler City, finding only a rifle in the Mustang.