TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee man is out on bond after being accused of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old victim.
John Mitchell, 29, was arrested on Thursday.
On April 19, the victim was interviewed by the Leon County Sheriff's Office. During the interview, the 13-year-old victim stated she is afraid of Mitchell because he sexually assaulted her.
On April 15, the victim said her mother and sister asked her if she wanted to go to Wal-Mart with them. Not knowing Mitchell was home, the victim decided to stay home.
According to an interview with the victim's family, the victim's mom and sister were gone for 45 minutes to an hour.
After they left, Mitchell came out of his bedroom into the family room. The victim said she was surprised because she thought he was at work and was not expecting him to be there.
Court documents state Mitchell approached the victim with his pants pulled down, pulled the victim's pants down and told her if she said anything to anyone he was going to kill her and hurt her family.
The victim said despite fighting back against him, Mitchell forced the victim down and continued, leaving marks on her body.
According to the report, the victim's mother and sister noticed something was not right and began asking questions.
Eventually the victim told them what happened on April 18 and said she waited to say something because Mitchell had threatened her.
The victim also had injuries consistent with sexual abuse, according to a medical evaluation.
Interviews with the victim's family revealed that Mitchell had called the victim's mother several times during the time the victim alleges the crime occurred.
Investigators also learned that the majority of Mitchell's friends on Facebook were young females appearing to be in high school and found out that Mitchell may have talked to a 15-year-old girl in the past.
Investigators contacted the woman in question, who's now 21, and she said that she dated and had sex with Mitchell when she was 15 years old. The woman further explained that Mitchell forced her into sex and continued to try to contact her after they broke up.
When investigators spoke with Mitchell on May 3, he denied the allegations.
However, based on the evidence, investigators found probable cause to charge Mitchell with sexual battery involving serious physical force.
He was taken into custody on Thursday and jailed on a $30,000 bond. He has since bonded out.
