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Abducted Teenage Girl Returns Home After Release

Sex Offender Still At Large

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By BILLY TOWNSEND | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 3, 2007

BARTOW - BARTOW - BARTOW -- The 15-year-old Bartow girl who survived a 30-hour road trip with a registered sex offender she met online is home.

Friends drove the girl's parents the 425 miles to the DeFuniak Springs area, where the girl was found safe in a Wal-Mart about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday after William Joe Mitchell apparently decided to let her go, investigators said.

The girl is quieter than normal, her father told reporters at Wednesday afternoon's news conference. He asked media members to allow the family some privacy "so that my child can go to school just like she did last week."

Mitchell, the 46-year-old registered sex offender accused of luring the girl away, remains at large. Law enforcement agencies in several states are hunting for him.

When caught, Mitchell faces charges of solicitation to commit a lewd act, enticing a child via the Internet, interference with custody and traveling to meet a minor, according to a Polk arrest warrant.

The Tampa Tribune is not naming the girl or her parents because she was in the custody of a sex offender. Her father said he would like to get his hands on Mitchell.

"You're gonna get what's coming to you," her father said, speaking into cameras during a late afternoon press conference at the Polk County Sheriff's Office. "If he was here right now, it would be a blood fest, a brawl for all."

DeFuniak Springs is a small town northeast of Fort Walton Beach near the Alabama border in Florida's Panhandle. Investigators say Mitchell and the girl traveled into Alabama at some point during the trip. Polk Sheriff Grady Judd said Mitchell is thought to have relatives in Opp, Ala.

Investigators say Mitchell developed an online relationship with the girl and drove to Bartow from Jacksonville to pick her up early Monday morning. Judd said she sneaked out her bedroom window and drove away with Mitchell about 2:30 a.m. Monday.

Contrary to early reports, Judd said Wednesday that Mitchell and the girl did not communicate via the MySpace social network Web site. They talked using chat rooms located on different systems, Judd said.

State records show Mitchell has been sentenced to prison four times. The longest sentence was 10 years, served between 1982 and 1992 for armed robbery and other charges.

The most recent was four years for lewd and lascivious battery on a victim 12 to 15 years old. He was released Dec. 10.

Most of Mitchell's crimes occurred in St. Johns County in northeast Florida.

Investigators think Mitchell drove from a home for sex offenders in Jacksonville to Polk County to pick up the girl.

Judd said investigators think Mitchell posed as a much younger man while online and used the alias "Billy Martin."

Mitchell may be driving his black 2000 Chevrolet Lumina, tag number G025EL.

Mitchell is white, 5 feet 11 inches tall, weighs about 158 pounds and has several tattoos, deputies say.

On his left arm are the name Lisa and a cross. The word 'love' is tattooed on the fingers of one hand. On his right arm he has a tattoo with the words 'me' and 'Bill.'

Anyone with information may call the Polk County Sheriff's Office at (863) 533-0344.

Reporter Billy Townsend can be reached at (863) 284-1409 or at wtownsend@tampatrib.com.

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