LUCIUS MITCHELL - 5 Weeks - Grand Junction CO

A Grand Junction father and former mentor to young parents, whose
series of alleged crimes stretched over much of 2011, is accused of
fatally injuring his infant son last May.


Dartanin D. Mitchell, 34, is suspected of child abuse resulting in
the death of his 5-week-old son, Lucius Lee Mitchell, who died on June
12, 2011, after being removed from life support at Children’s Hospital
in Denver.


An arrest warrant in the nine-month investigation by the Grand
Junction Police Department and Mesa County District Attorney’s office
was signed Monday by District Judge Valerie Robison. Bond was set at
$500,000. The warrant alleges two counts: child abuse resulting in
death, a class 2 felony; and child abuse resulting in serious bodily
injury, a class 3 felony.


Dartanin Mitchell is being held at the Denver County Jail, where he’s
been since his arrest in December in connection with a series of armed
robberies in the metro area.


District Attorney Pete Hautzinger said a charging decision in the
case has hinged for months on the availability of expert medical
testimony.


“I needed unanimous medical opinion that the fatal injuries suffered
here would have been immediately incapacitating (to Lucius Mitchell), to
a reasonable degree of medical certainty,” Hautzinger said, when asked
of the time needed to bring a case against Mitchell.


Grand Junction firefighters and paramedics were called May 27, 2011,
on a report of a 5-week-old boy not conscious or breathing at 2910
Bunting Ave., Unit 11. An officer reported the boy’s mother, Jennifer
Futrell, 24, and Dartanin Mitchell were at the home at the time,
according to an arrest warrant affidavit.


Doctors at St. Mary’s Hospital observed severe trauma to the boy’s
head, including bleeding to the eyes and in the brain, which was
suspected “non-accidental” trauma, the affidavit said. A doctor said
Lucius Mitchell was unlikely to survive.


The boy was flown that same day to Children’s Hospital.


Dr. Antonia Chiesa, the attending physician at the hospital, reported
finding new and old fractures including multiple rib fractures,
fractures of the right arm and both legs and pelvis, and a possible
injury to the spine and neck, according to the affidavit.


A pair of doctors initially identified eight fractures, but a third
doctor later reported finding 25 throughout the boy’s body, the
affidavit said.


The parents agreed to remove the child from life support on June 10.


Alone with child


Mitchell told detectives he arrived home May 27 and found his wife
and her parents at the couple’s Bunting Avenue home, and his son asleep
on a living room chair.


Mitchell said his wife left the home to take her parents to their home in Clifton.


“He advised while seated on the couch in the living room working on a
new TV remote controller, he saw Lucius raise his arms up and gasp,
then go limp,” the affidavit said.


He said he started CPR, calling out to a neighbor for help.


Futrell told a detective she left around 4 p.m. that day to take her
parents home, which was roughly a half-hour after her husband had
arrived home from work. Mitchell was left alone with the child asleep.


She returned home just before 5 p.m., finding paramedics responding to her home.


Mitchell fell under scrutiny because of the time frames associated
with the fatal injuries. Symptoms would have been obvious soon after
inflicted, the affidavit said.


A CT scan of Lucius Mitchell’s head showed no evidence of a skull
fracture, but significant damage including bleeding of the brain and
swelling, the affidavit said.


“(Children’s Hospital pediatric radiologist) Dr. Laura Fenton
explained the symptoms from this brain injury would have appeared
immediately and Lucius Mitchell would not have been acting normally,”
the affidavit said.


Mesa County Coroner’s Office forensic pathologist Dr. Robert Kurtzman
made similar findings in ruling the boy’s death a homicide, the
affidavit said.


2011 spree


A former parenting mentor employed by Family First, a Hilltop
Community Resources program, Mitchell in 2011 was accused of twice
burglarizing his former workplace office, located inside the Mesa County
Workforce Center at 2897 North Ave., and stealing vehicles owned by the
organization.


Mitchell was free on bond Sept. 27 when he failed to appear at a plea hearing in one of the cases.


Mitchell and his wife, Jennifer, were arrested Oct. 9, in Memphis,
Tenn., inside a van alleged to have been stolen from the Hilltop
program.


In custody and headed back to Mesa County, Mitchell escaped on Nov.
16 by stealing a private transport vehicle in Topeka, Kan., when the
driver stopped at a gas station to use the restroom. Mitchell was
wearing handcuffs and shackles at the time.


Mitchell was at-large through Dec. 6, when he and his brother,
Rodney, 19, were arrested by the Denver Police Department in connection
with four armed robberies between Nov. 20 and Nov. 30 in Denver and
Lakewood.

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/mitchell-charged-in-sons-death/

Denver police capture the “crummy cookie bandits”

December 11, 2011

Denver CO - A Grand Junction man who escaped custody in Kansas was arrested Tuesday in Denver, where he is suspected of involvement in at least four metro-area armed robberies.

Labeled by the Denver Police Department as the “crummy cookie bandits,” Dartanin Mitchell, 33, and Rodney Mitchell, 19, were arrested around 6:30 p.m. in the parking lot of a Blockbuster video store at Colfax Avenue and Corona Street following a surveillance operation by Denver police. Police said in a news release they received numerous tips regarding the identity of the Mitchells and their whereabouts.

Both men are being held in the Denver jail. While police did not identify the relationship between the men, court records suggest Dartanin and Rodney Mitchell are brothers.

Authorities said both men are being investigated for possible involvement in at least four armed robberies at businesses between Nov. 20 and Nov. 30, including the Nov. 23 robbery of a 7-Eleven at 11599 West Colfax Ave., when a store a clerk was shot in the face point-blank with a BB gun.

Two men walked into the store, and one of them brought a candy bar to the counter before both brandished weapons and jumped over the counter, Lakewood Police Department spokesman Scott Davis said.

They fled with an undisclosed amount of cash, while the clerk declined medical attention, Davis said.

The “cookie” label stemmed from a robbery at a Subway store in which the duo allegedly started their encounter with staff by ordering cookies.

Dartanin Mitchell escaped from custody Nov. 16, stealing a transport vehicle in Topeka, Kan., after the driver stopped at a gas station to use the restroom. Mitchell was wearing handcuffs and shackles at the time and last was seen driving east on Interstate 470 in a 2001 Buick Century sedan with Kansas license plates.

Security Transport, a private company, was moving Mitchell from Tennessee to Grand Junction to face charges in several local cases.

Mitchell, along with his wife, Jennifer, had been jailed in Memphis, Tenn., after he was arrested there Oct. 9, driving a van that authorities believe was stolen from the Mesa County Workforce Center, 2897 North Ave., on Sept. 24. Dartanin Mitchell was free on bond Sept. 24 when, police allege, he targeted the offices of Family First, a parent-mentoring program offered by Hilltop Community Resources, which are located inside the Workforce Center.

A laptop and hundreds of dollars of cash, among other items, were missing, along with a Chevrolet van used by the organization, an arrest warrant affidavit said.

Mitchell fled Mesa County after disabling a Global Positioning System ankle monitor, which he had been ordered to wear as a bond condition. The GPS device was found Sept. 26 near the front door of his home, but there was no sign of Mitchell.

He failed to appear in court for a plea hearing Sept. 27.

Mitchell, who had been employed as a mentor to young parents through Family First, had been accused of breaking into the same offices June 3 and stealing hundreds of dollars of cash and vouchers.

Mitchell was described by authorities as the prime suspect in the death of his infant son, Lucius Lee Mitchell, who passed away June 12. The investigation remains active.

http://privateofficernews.wordpress.com/2011/12/11/denver-police-capture-the-crummy-cookie-bandits-www-privateofficer-com/