Accused of touching young girl
A Century man is facing a felony molestation charge after law enforcement responded to a sexual battery complaint made by Shannon Spence June 30.
Shelton Obrian Mitchell, 34, 121 Second St., was arrested after an investigation into allegations that he touched the genitals of a female under the age of 16 over her clothes, according to an Escambia County Sheriff's Office report.
The report said officers responded to the complaint by Spence revealed she had been awakened by the victim and her daughter-in-law, Jasmyn Hunt.
Spence told officers according to the minor victim, Mitchell had texted her messages of a sexual nature, offering her $150 for 15 minutes for just one time and I will pay you for six months and other texts describing sexual acts. The victim said Mitchell also offered her $150 every Monday to hang out and $300 for five minutes to perform a sexual act, according to the report.
The victim told the suspect she did not know what he was talking about and asked him to explain.
Mitchell texted the victim, “You are a very beautiful girl”, according to the report. The victim told law enforcement that she thought she was going to get paid to hang out with Mitchell and be able to help someone financially.
Both victim and suspect sat on stairs, where the victim told authorities Mitchell asked her if he could touch her vagina, following more texts of a sexual nature, the report stated. The victim said she told Mitchell “no” several times and began playing a game on her phone when Mitchell then reached over and touched her vagina with his hand over her shorts, according to the report.
The victim said she texted another person, Hunt, to text her back that she was needed inside, which Hunt told authorities she did. The victim then got up to return to her residence in response to that text when Mitchell made her delete the text messages he had sent her.
When authorities made contact with Mitchell, he told authorities he always hangs out with the victim and Hunt on the apartment complex stairs, the report said. The suspect denied that he asked to or touched the victim. The report stated another text sent by Mitchell to the victim's phone asked, “Is this Kelly” and the victim had responded “no”. Texts appeared to have stopped between the suspect and the victim at that time. Mitchell advised law enforcement that he got confused and thought he was texting someone else, according to the report. The Department of Children and Families was contacted to document the incident and an arrest warrant was issued later.
Mitchell was arrested Friday, July 6, and transported to Escambia County Jail with a $25,000 bond set.
