Red Lake women charged with kidnapping

MINNEAPOLIS -- An indictment filed Tuesday charges two Red Lake women with kidnapping for a June 13 incident.

Melanie Rose Benais, 27 and Ronalda Myra Smith, 33, were both charged with one count of kidnapping, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In its description of the crime, the release stated “the defendants kidnapped another person while on the Red Lake Indian Reservation and held that person against their will.”

No further information was provided.

The crime with which Benais and Smith have been charged carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.