Posted on 01/10/2003 4:55:12 AM PST by oldoverholt
Poison pen-pal forgets obvious By BRYAN CORBIN Daily Journal news editor bcorbin@thejournalnet.com
Jan. 10, 2003
The prison inmate who sent anthrax-hoax letters to the prosecutor and judge who put him behind bars made it easy for investigators to find him: He included his correct return address on the envelopes.
And now Kevin R. Mitchell, who was scheduled to be released from state prison next year, could spend another eight years in the slammer.
“It would be charitable to say a person who would do that has a room-temperature IQ,” said Johnson County Prosecutor Lance Hamner. “It’s hard to imagine what would motivate somebody to do that. It’s almost like he’s asking to have prison time added, because he most certainly will.”
Hamner was the intended recipient of one of Mitchell’s anthrax-hoax letters Wednesday, as was Judge Cynthia Emkes of Johnson Superior Court 2.
The first letter was opened by one of Emkes’ court employees about 5:15 p.m., the second by Hamner’s secretary at 7:25 p.m. Within each envelope was a threatening letter filled with foul language and a smaller, sealed envelope that appeared to contain a powdery substance. The wrapped powder inside Hamner’s letter was helpfully obvious; it had the word “anthrax” written on it.
Franklin firefighters were summoned to remove each envelope. Employees did not have to go through the decontamination procedure. Fire Chief Mike Herron is convinced the powder is not the lethal bacteria anthrax. It could be sugar, talc or some other powder prisoners have access to.
Mitchell, now 21, has sent threatening letters to the judge and prosecutor before.
“We figured it was a hoax, but because it is from a violent convicted felon, you at least initially want to be cautious,” Hamner said.
In May 1998, when Mitchell was a 16-year-old inmate at the Johnson County Juvenile Detention Center, he took another inmate hostage by holding a sharpened pencil to the youth’s neck. Detention center staff foiled Mitchell’s escape attempt, and he gave up.
The prosecutor charged Mitchell as an adult, and Mitchell later was convicted in Superior Court 2 of attempted escape and criminal confinement. Emkes sentenced him to prison. He has been held in solitary confinement in the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility south of Terre Haute, for disciplinary problems.
To mail his letters from prison, Mitchell had to write his name and return address on the envelopes. Two Johnson County sheriff’s detectives drove to the prison and tried to question him Wednesday night, but Mitchell refused to speak with them.
Mitchell had been scheduled for release March 7, 2004, but his poison-pen-pal caper could keep him behind bars much longer.
Inconveniently for Mitchell, his anthrax hoax came just months after the state legislature added a new criminal law to the books: terroristic mischief, which means threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction. Passed in the wake of Sept. 11 and the East Coast anthrax scare, the offense is a Class C felony, punishable by two to eight years in prison.
Mitchell would be the first person charged with terroristic mischief in Johnson County. As one of the intended victims, Hamner might have to seek a special prosecutor to handle the case. He also is checking whether federal authorities want the case instead.
The state prison likely will revoke Mitchell’s mail privileges. Meanwhile, “we caution anyone who had contact with this prisoner who gets a letter from him to not open it, and to contact authorities,” said Chief Deputy Doug Cox of the sheriff’s department.
Chilly room.
Only if you promise to seduously abjure sesquipedalian pedantry...*grin*
LOL...well stated.
Call him a cynic, but I think he's right. Criminals by and large are dumb. They can also be dangerous, but most of them are not just room temperature but shoe size IQ. And a good thing too.
It's amazing how often these stories about dumb crooks show up on non-mainstream news outlets...and even more amazing that the popular news media is always telling us that this or that study - of convicted criminals - shows that the average crook is of average or above average intelligence.
Yes, but nobody likes him so they are not going to look into it.
From the article: "To mail his letters from prison, Mitchell had to write his name and return address on the envelopes." I suspect prison officials check the return addresses on outgoing mail.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.