Former Columbus vice cop Andrew Mitchell sentenced to prison for kidnapping women
Bethany Bruner
Former Columbus police vice officer Andrew Mitchell will likely spend more than a decade behind bars after being sentenced Thursday morning in U.S. District Court.
Judge Edmund Sargus ordered Mitchell, 60, to serve a total sentence of 11 years in prison, with credit for 62 months Mitchell has already been in custody awaiting a resolution in the case.
Mitchell spoke on his own behalf before Sargus issued his decision and said he is a "true and remorseful person."
"Hopefully with me accepting responsibility, it will help the healing process for the victims involved," Mitchell said. "Don’t let this plea define me as a person who does not care. I know in my heart the kind of person I am."
In December, Mitchell entered guilty pleas to two counts of depravation of rights under color of law and one count of obstruction of justice. As part of a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, several other charges — including witness tampering — were dismissed and a potential sentencing range of between eight and 11 years was agreed upon.
Mitchell has been in custody since his arrest in April 2019. The time he has been in custody, 62 months, will count toward his prison sentence, meaning he will be released in 2030.
Mitchell had initially been accused of forcing two women to engage in sexual activity in exchange for Mitchell not arresting them. The plea deal did not include any charges involving sexual assault or kidnapping.
During Thursday's hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin Kelley read a statement from one of the two women.
"You showed your badge. You told me what I was going to do and when I said no, you made me," the statement said. "Why didn’t you want to save me? The one person who may have been able to save me changed my life."
The woman said at the age of 24 decided she wouldn't be another statistic and spoke to federal investigators. Now, she's 27, a mother and three years sober.
"We do recover, I hope you do too," the woman's statement said. "They asked me how much time you should get. There’s no time frame for someone who hurts young vulnerable women and men. This is from the girl you thought would never recover."
Federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo filed in advance of Thursday's hearing that Mitchell could have had no other motivation than a sexual one in holding the women against their will.
"More was going on than just Mitchell abusing the powers of his badge to only detain someone," the memo says. "Mitchell took full advantage of the nature of the vice unit responsibilities to benefit his own selfish sexual vices."
Mitchell's defense attorneys balked in their sentencing memo at any mention of sexual assault, saying that had that been part of the plea agreement, the case likely would have gone to trial.
"The defendant denies having had sex with prostitutes but does per the statement of facts ... acknowledges and takes responsibility for handcuffing the prosecuting witnesses and detaining them against their will," the document says.
On Thursday, Mark Collins, one of of Mitchell's attorneys, said Mitchell has been undergoing "mental punishment" by being held in pretrial detention for more than five years in the Butler County jail. Mitchell has been kept in his cell 23 hours a day and is not permitted to be outside, Collins said.
"He is prepared to pay his debt to society. He’s let down the brethren and his brothers and sisters in the police department," Collins said.
Kelley said Mitchell's statement on his own behalf, which detailed his 31 year career and his relationship with his family but only a few references to his own actions, did nothing but show Mitchell deserved the most time possible under the plea agreement.
"These people have suffered, not just victim one and victim two, the community has also suffered," Kelley said. "He took full advantage of a job where there was so much discretion, so much independence, so much leeway to do what he wanted to do."
Sargus said in determining how Mitchell would be sentenced that Mitchell's actions, which took place while he was a police officer, could "diminish the Constitution itself."
"We are looking at something as close to murder as an actual offense can be," Sargus said. "The victims in this case were struggling, they were addicted, they were at the time supporting themselves. They may have been committing misdemeanors but they were people the law should protect and help. In my view, they were vulnerable victims. Mr. Mitchell could see that and, in his role as a police officer, he failed to give them the protection they deserve."
What did Andrew Mitchell plead guilty to in federal court?
Mitchell admitted to a statement of facts that said he picked up the first woman in July 2017 in the Hilltop area where the woman was working as a sex worker. Mitchell, who was in plain clothes and did not have his badge, identified himself as a police officer and told the woman she was under arrest.
The woman told investigators Mitchell handcuffed her to a zip tie that was on the doorknob of his car before driving to a nearby area where Mitchell said there were no cameras.
"Mitchell then parked his car and continued to forcibly hold and detain (her) against her will for a period of time," the statement of facts says.
A second woman provided a similar account, saying Mitchell picked her up two different times in September 2017. Mitchell showed the second woman a badge, according to court records, before driving her to a nearby area and holding her against her will.
Both women had been willing to testify at a trial but wanted to avoid one if at all possible, federal prosecutors said in their sentencing memo.
The FBI's Public Corruption Task Force began investigating Mitchell in September 2018, weeks after Mitchell fatally shot 23-year-old Donna Dalton Castleberry while working undercover. A jury found Mitchell not guilty of any criminal charge in connection with Castleberry's Aug. 23, 2018, death.
Mitchell knew the investigation was underway by October 2018, when he began cleaning out an apartment at a rental property he owned. Bleach was used in cleaning the apartment, court records say.
After Thursday's hearing, Mitchell will be returned to the Butler County jail until he is transported to the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons.