Kidnap suspect released day he arrived at Nevada prison

LAS VEGAS, NEV. — A man at the center of an intense police search in Oregon after a kidnapping last week was released from custody in 2021 by Nevada prison officials on the same day he was transferred to the state’s custody to serve a kidnapping sentence, authorities said Monday.

Benjamin Obadiah Foster, 36, faced decades in prison in Nevada after he was charged in 2019 with five felonies, including assault and battery. But a deal with Clark County prosecutors allowed him to instead plead guilty to felony and misdemeanor battery, and a judge sentenced him in September 2021 to serve between one and 2 ½ years in a state prison.

William Quenga, a spokesperson for the Nevada prison system, told The Associated Press in an email that Foster arrived Oct. 18, 2021, at a prison intake facility but was released the same day, because the judge had factored into Foster’s punishment the 729 days he had spent in jail awaiting trial.

That means Foster had served his minimum sentence behind bars but was a half-year from serving the maximum time given by the judge.

Clark County District Judge Tierra Jones and District Attorney Steve Wolfson did not respond to requests for comment.

The victim in the Oregon case was found unconscious and bound in Grants Pass, Ore., on Jan. 24. She was hospitalized in critical condition and has not regained consciousness since then, said Grants Pass Police Lt. Jeff Hattersley.

The case has rattled residents of Grants Pass, a town of some 40,000. Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman told AP that it is “extremely troubling” Foster wound up being sought for attempted murder in Oregon instead of still being behind bars in Nevada.

Foster narrowly eluded a police raid Thursday in the nearby unincorporated community of Wolf Creek, Ore., and may have changed his appearance by shaving his beard and hair or changing his hair color, police said.

Police initially released a photo of Foster showing him with shoulder-length brown hair, but he had cut it and grown a thicker beard since the photo was made. He may have altered his appearance further since then, Hattersley said.

“We’re getting all kinds of calls about people walking along I-5, they have long beards and long hair,” Hattersley said. “We have a feeling that’s not really what he is looking like at this point.”

Police offered a $2,500 reward Friday for information leading to Foster’s arrest and prosecution. None of the 50 or so tips that have come insince then has been solid enough to lead to Foster, who is charged with attempted murder, kidnapping and assault, according to Hattersley.