Bentonville man gets 25 years for rape, fleeing to Virgin Islands

BENTONVILLE — A Bentonville man who attempted to evade criminal charges by fleeing to the U.S. Virgin Islands was sentenced to 25 years in prison for raping a woman and failing to appear in court.

Brian Workman, 55, pleaded guilty Monday to rape, failure to appear and misdemeanor assault. He pleaded guilty under an agreement Ray Spruell, his attorney, reached with Tim McDonald, deputy prosecutor.

Workman was arrested Feb. 22, 2019. A woman told police Workman had ripped off her clothes and raped her, according to a probable cause affidavit.

He was free on $ 15,000 bond when he failed to appear in court Dec. 2, 2019, and Benton County Circuit Judge Robin Green ordered a warrant be issued for Workman’s arrest.

Chris Gravely, a Bentonville police officer, testified at a March hearing U.S. marshals found Workman in June 2020 in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Gravely said two Benton County Sheriff ’ s Office deputies flew to the Virgin Islands to bring Workman back to Benton County, but couldn’t because of an incident at the airport. Workman attempted to flee and was stopped by a Virgin Islands police officer, Gravely said.

Workman attempted to reach for the officer’s gun and one of the deputies took Workman to the ground, Gravely said. Federal authorities later returned Workman to Arkansas, Gravely said.

Workman has been in the Benton County Jail on a $500,000 cash-only bond since the March hearing.

“He fled to the United States Virgin Islands, a U.S. territory,” said Bryan Sexton, chief deputy prosecutor. “Had he fled to another sovereign nation, we would have had to go though the State Department for extradition though treaty obligations, but because the islands are covered by U.S. law, law enforcement was able to work with the U.S. Marshal Service to apprehend and return him to Arkansas.”

Green accepted the plea agreement and Workman’s guilty plea. Workman was sentenced to 15 years for rape and 10 years for failure to appear. The two sentences will be served consecutively. He must serve at least 12 years in prison before he’s eligible for parole.

He will have to register as a sex offender. He also was ordered to complete a sex offender treatment program.

Workman