Wooster assault suspect is arrested in Dayton
The Wooster resident accused of assaulting an MSNBC reporter in Mississippi has been found.
Investigators arrested Benjamin Dagley Thursday in Dayton. He's facing charges of assault and violating terms of his probation.
When the U.S. Marshals Office task force received word that Dagley's white 2016 Ford F150 pickup was in the area, they located the truck at a nearby shopping plaza, according to a news release from the agency.
The team waited for the 54-year-old Wooster man and arrested him after he left a store.
“Due to assistance provided by the Wayne County Sheriff 's Office, our task force members were able to track this fugitive from Mississippi to his arrest location in Dayton,” U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott said in the release.
Dagley faces two counts of assault, one count of disturbance of the peace and one count of violation of emergency curfew by the Gulfport Police Department.
In a video of the Gulfport incident, Dagley can be seen parking his white pickup behind the MSNBC reporter and running toward the camera shouting about “accuracy.”
Reporter Shaquille Brewster then turned away to continue talking about Hurricane Ida but signs off as Dagley approaches him again.
“Craig, I'm going to toss it back to you because we have a man who is upset right now,” Brewster said.
When the camera broke away to another news anchor, the man assaulted Brewster, according to the Gulfport Police Department.
This was not Dagley's first encounter with the law.
He was arrested in 2017 after he broke into Cleveland Plating, a company he once owned, according to a report from Cleveland.com
There, Dagley drilled into tanks containing sodium cyanide, hydrochloric acid, yellow chromate, ferrous chloride, and sulfuric acid. The owner of the electroplating company said Dagley risked creating a deadly World War One-like cyanide gas, according to the article.
At the time of the incident, he was also in the midst of an ongoing dispute with the company regarding the property, its lease, mortgage and other issues.
Cleveland Plating's owners asked a judge for a temporary restraining order and Dagley was charged with misdemeanor assault, accused of breaking into the building and punching and slamming a door into a security guard, according to the Cleveland.com report.
Court documents from Cuyahoga County show that Dagley was indicted on nine charges, including felonious assault, breaking and entering, inducing panic, extortion and vandalism.
He pleaded guilty to one count of attempted felonious assault, inducing panic and vandalism. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and five years probation, according to the court docket.
Dagley served a portion of his jail time in Cuyahoga County before moving to the Wayne County Jail.
Because Dagley traveled to Mississippi while on probation, he could face up to 36 months in prison or severe restrictions, court documents show.
Reach Bryce by email bbuyakie@gannett.com