Aaron Mitchell was a Customs and Border Protection officer in Arizona when he was arrested in April 2022 for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a fifteen-year-old girl. According to the police, Mitchell approached a girl walking to school. He was wearing a tactical vest that identified him as a CBP officer. He asked her for her documentation. After she gave it to him, he told her he was taking her to the police station. Instead, he took her to an apartment complex where he raped her.
The state indicted him on eighteen charges before the Dept. of Justice added three federal charges in November, 2022, that include violating her civil rights by kidnapping and raping her, kidnapping, and misleading investigators.
While he was alone in the interrogation room, he was caught on tape threatening the witness. “F——- little b—-. B—– is claiming rape. That’s so f—— crazy. That’s crazy, man. She better hope I don’t get out of here.” That may not be a serious threat, the federal prosecutors concede, but they asked for and received revocation of the bail the state had granted him, so he is incarcerated until trial.
“If Mitchell was bold enough to kidnap a girl near her school, depraved enough to violently and sexually assault her, cunning enough to dispose of incriminating evidence, and careless enough to threaten her while in police custody, then none of Mitchell’s proposed conditions of release would reasonably assure the safety of the community and the victim,” prosecutors argued in court papers filed Nov. 10, 2022. He appealed his pretrial detention and lost.
- Fox 10 Phoenix: Ex-Border agent indicted in sex assault of Arizona teen
- NBC News: Former CBP agent accused of sexually assaulting a minor was caught on video threatening his accuser
- Dept. of Justice: Former Customs and Border Protection Agent Indicted for Federal Civil Rights Violation for Sexually Assaulting and Kidnapping a Minor
- Dept of Justice: United States vs. Aaron Thomas Mitchell (brutal description of the crimes)
29 Apr 2022, Fri · Page B1