Newberry Man Arrested on Internet Solicitation Charges

By Kelly Davis, The State, Columbia, S.C.

Feb. 24–A Newberry man is behind bars on multiple charges of criminal solicitation of a minor following an Internet investigation.

The four identical charges against Joseph Elbert Mitchell were filed today by the S.C. Attorney General’s Office following a Thursday raid of Mitchell’s Montgomery Street home by State Law Enforcement Division officers.

According to arrest warrants, someone at the residence solicited sexual activity over the Internet from officers posing as 13- and 14-year-old girls. The undercover agents represented the Westminster Police Department, the Aiken County Sheriff’s Department, the Charleston Police Department and SLED.

Mitchell is bedridden because of recent surgery, so Judge Barry Koon conducted the bond hearing at his bedside, according to a news release from the attorney general’s office. He remains free on a special bond requiring close monitoring by law enforcement officers.

If convicted, Mitchell faces up to 10 years in prison on each of the four counts.

A trial date has not been set.

—–

Copyright (c) 2006, The State, Columbia, S.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.