Webster County Sheriff Tim Mitchell, a former investigator and a jailer pleaded not guilty last week after being indicted on multiple felony charges.
A Webster County grand jury issued the indictments Jan. 14 at the Choctaw County Courthouse in Ackerman, where this month’s term of Webster County Circuit Court is being held. Mitchell was indicted on these charges totaling 12 counts:
• a two-count indictment charging him with embezzlement by a public official and trafficking in stolen firearms;
• a three count indictment charging him with attempted sexual activity between sheriff and inmate, intimidating a witness and attempted tampering with physical evidence;
• a four-count indictment charging him with two counts each of furnishing contraband to an inmate and sale, possession or use of a controlled substance in a jail facility;
• an indictment charging him with one count of tampering with a witness;
• and a two-count co-indictment with former Chief Investigator Landon Griffin charging them with embezzlement by a public official and trafficking in stolen firearms.
Griffin was additionally indicted on separate charges of embezzlement by a public official and trafficking in stolen firearms.
Sheriff’s Department Jailer Santana Monshea Townsend was also indicted. She is charged with two counts of sexual activity between jailer and inmate, furnishing contraband to an inmate and sale, possession or use of a controlled substance in a jail facility.
Arraignments
All three defendants have been arraigned and are out on bail. Mitchell, 54, was arraigned Jan. 16 at the Grenada County Courthouse before Circuit Judge Joseph Loper Jr. He was already free on $400,000 bail, having bonded out of jail in Lee County the day before. Lee County Sheriff Jim Johnson said Mitchell was moved there from Lafayette County on Jan. 11 at the request of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.
During his arraignment, Mitchell pleaded not guilty to all 12 felony charges. Loper renewed his bond at $400,000 for the next term of court and set a trial date of June 24.
Mitchell posted bond through Ace Surety Bail Bond Co. Loper ordered him to remain on house arrest and wear an ankle monitor. Mitchell must also avoid contact with Webster County Sheriff’s Department employees, The Associated Press reported.
Mitchell remains sheriff and is still being paid, although Andy McCants is running the department as acting sheriff. Mitchell was scheduled to resign Jan. 2, citing health reasons. He withdrew his resignation after his arrest and said he plans to serve out the final year of his second term.
Defense attorney Austin Vollor told WCBI News, “We want to get this behind us so that’s what’s we’re looking for and I’m certain the district attorney’s office feels the same way. Everyone wants a resolution to this as long as it’s fair and we’re ready to roll on it.”
Griffin, 40, of Mantee, and Townsend, 31, of Eupora, were arraigned Jan. 14 at the Choctaw County Courthouse. They entered pleas of not guilty before Circuit Judge George Mitchell Jr., who set bond at $50,000 for Griffin and $25,000 for Townsend. The MBI transported them to the Oktibbeha County Jail in Starkville, where they were processed and bonded out. Their appearance bonds were made returnable to May 23 in Circuit Court.
Griffin had served nearly three years as chief investigator for the Sheriff’s Department when Tim Mitchell fired him effective Dec. 19, the same day MBI agents arrested the sheriff on a dozen felony charges.
Charges against
Sheriff Mitchell
The grand jury’s indictments filed in Webster County Circuit Court detail the allegations against the sheriff, Griffin and Townsend.
One indictment against Sheriff Mitchell alleges he intentionally converted to his own use (embezzled) a .45-caliber handgun and a Ruger model P95 9mm pistol, and intentionally sold, delivered or transferred (trafficked) the stolen firearms last October.
The two-count indictment against Mitchell and Griffin alleges they embezzled and trafficked two stolen firearms, a Taurus .38-caliber revolver and a Smith & Wesson .40-caliber handgun, last October.
Another indictment accuses Mitchell of furnishing a cell phone to inmate Jimmy S. Agnew between Dec. 1, 2017, and Dec. 1, 2018, and furnishing Agnew with a weapon last October.
Two other counts in that indictment also charge Mitchell with bringing to or being in possession of a controlled substance in the jail, and permitting a controlled substance or narcotic drug to be sold, possessed or used in the jail between Dec. 1, 2017, and Dec. 1, 2018.
The grand jury, in another indictment, accused Mitchell of telling then-Deputy Jeff Man between Oct. 17 and Oct. 31 to lie to the attorney general’s office if he was questioned about missing scrap metal from the Sheriff’s Department.
Mann submitted a letter of resignation to the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 31 that was to take effect Nov. 6. However, Mitchell fired him after the Oct. 31 board meeting, claiming Mann had been terminated for “poor job performance.” Mann wrote in his letter he was resigning after witnessing “illegal activities” by Mitchell, who denied the claims in a newspaper interview at the time.
Another indictment alleges that, last April 9, Mitchell attempted to engage in sexual activity with the late Bethany Marie White while she was incarcerated at the jail by groping her, releasing her from jail on her own recognizance that day and paying her $200 in cash.
According to the indictment, he failed to do so because White refused to meet back up with him or communicate with him after she was released.
The same indictment alleges that, on the same date, Mitchell threated then-jailer Shanna McTaggart that if she discussed anything regarding what she witnessed regarding his release and interaction with White and another female inmate that he would “bury her in a hole so deep they won’t find the damn body.”
The other female inmate is not mentioned elsewhere in that indictment or any others brought against Mitchell. McTaggart resigned effective Sept. 30, according to minutes of the Webster County Board of Supervisors.
That indictment further alleges Mitchell attempted to tamper with a quantity of marijuana in a pending criminal investigation against White, who was charged with possession of marijuana. The formal accusation charges that Mitchell cut the bolt lock off the temporary evidence locker to obtain the marijuana but failed to do so because the marijuana had already been taken to the crime lab.
The Webster Progress-Times generally does not identify the alleged victims of sexual assault. Given the serious nature of the charges against Mitchell and the fact that White is deceased, the newspaper opted to identify her.
White, of Louisville, was killed July 28 in what authorities say was a hit-and-run at Pee Wee’s store on Highway 12 in Attala County near Weir. The Attala County Sheriff’s Department arrested Richard Perry Ford Jr. of McCool the next day in her death, and charged him with felony negligent manslaughter and felony leaving the scene of an accident.
Officials said White was walking in the parking lot of the convenience store when a Dodge dually truck with a heavy-duty bumper struck her and fled the scene into Choctaw County. White, 20, was pronounced dead on the scene of the incident.
Ford, 50, did not resist arrest and later admitted to the incident, Attala County Sheriff Tim Nail told The Star-Herald of Kosciusko. Surveillance footage reportedly shows portions of the incident, which includes an altercation between Ford and White, according to Nail. He said they went to the store together and got into an argument, one news outlet reported.
“There was a connection,” Nail told the newspaper when asked about any history between Ford and White. “She had actually been staying with him.”
Ford was being held in the Leake County Jail without bond following his arrest. According to The Star-Herald, Nail said the case against Ford will go before an Attala County grand jury in February.
Other indictments
The separate indictment against Griffin accuses him of embezzling a Del-Ton DTI-15 5.56mm rifle, a Ruger American .30-06 rifle and an SCCY Industries 9mm pistol, and trafficking the .30-06 and 9mm, both stolen, in 2018.
The indictment filed against Townsend alleges she engaged in sexual activity with inmates Cornelius Caldwell and Agnew while a jailer during time periods ranging from May 12-Oct. 29.
Between Feb. 14 and Dec. 19 of last year, she is also accused of furnishing contraband to Caldwell and permitting a controlled substance or narcotic drug to be sold, possessed or used at the jail. The type of contraband is not specified but is categorized as including any weapon, unauthorized electronic device, contraband item or cell phone.
Caldwell, 40, was placed in the county jail on July 23 after the Winona Police Department arrested him on charges of aggravated assault, domestic violence, DUI, malicious mischief and petit larceny. Jail and MDOC records show he was released to the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections on Oct. 29 and transferred to the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Pearl. MDOC’s website shows he is serving two sentences from Montgomery County totaling 10 years for malicious mischief and felony DUI.
MDOC records show a location change date of Jan. 3 for Agnew, who entered the same correctional facility on that date. Agnew, 28, is serving two sentences totaling 20 years for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon (Webster) and identity theft (Oktibbeha).
