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Sex Offender's Brother Says Crime Strained Relationship

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By JASON GEARY The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 7, 2007

TAMPA - Michael Mitchell said his relationship with his older brother "hit a wall" when William Joe Mitchell was sent to prison in 2002 for sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl.

William Mitchell

Michael Mitchell, who has a 16-year-old son and 19-year-old daughter, said he would speak with his brother over the telephone but didn't want him to visit.

"I really didn't want him around my kids," said Michael Mitchell, 43, of St. Augustine.

Authorities say William Mitchell, 46, raped a 15-year-old Bartow girl after using the Internet to lure her from home early Monday. He was arrested Saturday at a busy Virginia truck stop.

As officers searched for his brother, Michael Mitchell said his daughter was worried he might show up.

"My daughter was just worried about him having a gun, not knowing where he was at," Michael Mitchell said.

Corinne Geller, a Virginia State Police spokeswoman, said four troopers arrested William Mitchell without incident Saturday morning after the U.S. Marshals Service tracked him to the Flying J Truck Stop on Interstate 81 in Winchester, Va.

No weapon was recovered, she said.

William Mitchell was being held today without bail at the Northwestern Regional Adult Detention Center in Winchester, Va., on three fugitive warrants: a probation violation from St. Johns County, Fla., a charge of rape from Covington County, Ala., and solicitation to commit a lewd act, enticing a child via the Internet, from Polk County., Fla

Michael Mitchell said the latest charges against his brother have again embarrassed his family. "We are just glad it's over," he said.

He described his past relationship with his brother as friendly if not particularly close.

Michael Mitchell said his family was split up many years ago when his mother went away with another man who later beat her to death in Pennsylvania.

He said he and two of his sisters were sent to live in foster homes. Another sister went to live with family in Alabama, he said.

William and another brother went to live with their father, he said.

Michael Mitchell said his brother got into trouble often while growing up. "When I was in my teens, he was in prison already," Michael Mitchell said.

William Mitchell has an extensive criminal history, with most crimes in St. Johns County, according to public records.

Florida Department of Corrections records show that Mitchell was sentenced to prison four times. His longest sentence, 1982-92, was for armed robbery and related charges.

He was sentenced to four years in prison for a 2002 conviction in St. Johns County for lewd and lascivious battery on a 13-year-old girl.

William Mitchell worked for a long time as a cab driver in St. Augustine, Michael Mitchell said. Sometimes, they would ride around together and chat.

"He didn't ever seem like he was an abusive person," Michael Mitchell said. "When he was working, he seemed happy."

Reporter Jason Geary can be reached at (813) 865-1505 or jgeary@tampatrib.com.

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