Former Ohio deputy detective gets 11 years in prison for crimes related to kidnapping sex workers

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A former Ohio sex detective who pleaded guilty to federal crimes in connection with kidnapping sex worker victims under the guise of arrest was sentenced Thursday to 11 years in prison.

Andrew Mitchell, 60, of Sunbury, will receive credit for the approximately five years he has served in custody since his arrest in April 2019, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio. He had pleaded guilty in December to two counts of depriving individuals of their civil rights while acting under the banner of the law, and one count of obstruction of justice.

Mitchell worked for the Columbus Division of Police for more than 30 years and was assigned to the vice unit for the final two years of his employment, which ended in 2019, prosecutors said.

While working as a detective in July 2017, Mitchell was wearing street clothes and driving an unmarked car when he handcuffed a sex worker in his car. He then drove to a parking lot and held the woman against her will after identifying himself as an officer, prosecutors said. . Two months later, while again working as a plainclothes detective, he questioned another sex worker about rates before saying he was an officer. He then kidnapped her before releasing her after an undisclosed amount of time, prosecutors said.

In an unrelated case, Mitchell was acquitted in April 2023 of murder and manslaughter charges stemming from the death of a woman he shot while working undercover. He was charged after shooting and killing 23-year-old Donna Castleberry as she sat in his unmarked police car in August 2018.

Mitchell said he acted in self-defense after she stabbed him in the hand during an undercover prostitution investigation. The jury in that trial reached a verdict after about five hours of deliberation.