Clay Co. deputies locate missing men, charges pending

Deputies in Clay county have located two men who went missing yesterday afternoon around 4:30.

The Clay County Sheriff's Office was looking for Kyle Reese Bennett and his friend David Michael Claypool.  Steve Bennett, Kyle's brother, told WOKV the two went into the J.P. Hall Forest Preserve Monday afternoon.  Clay county deputies said they planned to cut a 1.5 mile trail to a creek and would be back before dark.

"They just went to explore the woods like us guys do and David Claypool's wife realized something was wrong when he wasn't there to pick her up from work," Steve Bennett says.

When darkness fell and family members hadn't heard from their loved ones, they called police.  The Sheriff's Office has been looking since 11 Monday night.  Their K9 units attempted to track the missing men but lost the scent in the swamp.

"They've [police] basically been going in circles, so I'm thinking they [the missing men] kept moving at night," said Bennett.

At 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, the Clay County Sheriff's Office reported the two men had been found when they walked up to a home on County Road 209 and told the resident they had been lost in the woods.  However, the story does not end there.

"There is a slight twist to it.  We are pursuing a criminal investigation because one, if not both of the individuals, are convicted felons," said Col. Craig Aldrich with the Clay County Sheriff's Office.  "Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon is obviously a crime in the state of Florida."

Aldrich says there was some ambiguity between the statements Bennett and Claypool made as to who had the firearm.  In new information released Tuesday afternoon, officials say both men have criminal backgrounds and Bennett is a convicted felon who is not supposed to have access to a firearm. Since a weapon was found on him, charges are pending against him.