A man previously arrested for a 2013 armed bank robbery has once again landed in police custody—this time for an attempted burglary involving Pokémon cards, counterfeit cash, and his young daughter.
Chance Bennett, now 34, was arrested after allegedly throwing a brick through the window of Davoli House of Cards on County Road 210 in St. Augustine the early morning hours of June 24.
Surveillance footage shows Bennett arriving at the store just before 1:30 a.m. in a red Subaru Tribeca. After initially leaving, he returned minutes later, this time wearing dark clothing, a hat, and bandanas covering his face.
According to deputies, the Yulee man grabbed a hammer from his car, but before taking further action, his 3-year-old daughter—dressed in pink pajamas—was seen walking around the vehicle.
He placed the child back inside the car before hurling a brick at the storefront, triggering the alarm. He then fled the scene.
The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office tied the vehicle to Bennett using license plate readers in the area.
A clerk at a nearby Circle K also identified a man matching Bennett’s description behaving erratically around the same time. He told investigators that Bennett used a counterfeit $100 bill to purchase two lottery tickets.
Bennett was eventually arrested on July 7 after his vehicle was spotted in the same area.
During the traffic stop, he struggled with officers and shouted, “I know my rights!” before being detained.
He initially denied damaging the business, blaming someone in the woods for chucking the missile, but later confessed to throwing the brick.
Inside the vehicle, deputies found Pokémon cards, a hammer, black hat, bandanas, and lottery tickets—items that matched the scene and suggested a targeted interest in certain merchandise sold at the store.
“Investigation revealed that the defendant has previously been the suspect in a Duval County case where he bought $700.00 worth of Pokémon cards using fake money,” the arrest report noted.
Bennett is now facing multiple charges including burglary across county lines, criminal mischief, petit theft, passing counterfeit currency, child neglect, and resisting arrest without violence.
This isn’t Bennett’s first encounter with the law.
In 2013, at age 22, he was arrested alongside Mandy Hagen, then 33, for armed bank robbery in Fernandina Beach.
Authorities said Bennett first attempted to rob a SunTrust Bank but fled when confronted. Less than an hour later, he successfully robbed the First Coast Community Bank.
He was apprehended hiding in the back of Hagen’s minivan on the Shave Bridge, reportedly attempting to flee the island.
