A 34-year-old Virginia woman and a 37-year-old Virginia man are being held in the Beckham County Detention Center after the Elk City Police Department discovered that they were fugitives from justice. The investigation began at approximately 10:00 pm on October 17 when the ECPD received a call from Karmella Bentley’s mother, stating that Bentley was traveling with a man named Sidney Patrick Martin and that Martin reportedly had pointed a gun at Bentley. The ECPD searched near Elk City Lake for the pair. An officer who works a different shift than the reporting officer arrived and said that he had encountered Bentley and Martin earlier in a blue bus.
The couple had a sign that reportedly said, “Hurricane Help.”
The officer said he had run their names for warrants. Both parties reportedly had warrants, but the request was only for them to be picked up in states surrounding Virginia.
Shortly after the reporting officer learned this information, he allegedly found the bus that the couple were reportedly traveling in near Allsups.
The officers set up a perimeter approximately 100 feet from the bus.
A Beckham County Sheriff’s Office deputy cleared the bus and reportedly found several firearms.
Bentley reportedly said to officers that she knew that her mother must have called the police because she had just spoken to her mother.
Officers also reportedly found marijuana paraphernalia.
Martin was charged with five counts of a felon in possession of a firearm, one count of being a fugitive from justice and one count possession of paraphernalia.
Bentley was charged with one count of being a fugitive from justice and one count of possession of drug paraphernalia.
