COLUMBUS (WBNS) — The FBI’s public corruption task force raided a second location Tuesday related to former vice officer Andrew Mitchell, 10 Investigates has learned.
A man who answered the door at a home on 20th Avenue confirmed that the FBI was there on Tuesday and that it was related to the former vice officer, but declined to provide details. The FBI confirmed the location.
10 Investigates was the only news outlet there Tuesday as federal agents removed boxes, containers filled with documents and other items from rental properties on Denune Avenue owned by Andrew Mitchell.
The agents also focused on a trailer parked in the parking lot. One person described seeing furniture samples being removed from an apartment.
Mitchell faces state charges of murder and manslaughter related to the shooting death of Donna Castleberry during an alleged prostitution sting last August. He also faces federal charges of abusing his police powers. Federal prosecutors allege that he coaxed women into sex acts under the threat of arrest. He retired from the Columbus Division of Police the day after he was charged in federal court last month.
Federal prosecutors also allege in court records that Mitchell rented to prostitutes and would allow these women to forgo paying rent in exchange for sex.
10 Investigates found that since 2013, there have been more than 630 police runs to Mitchell’s rental properties. A cross-reference of court records found that women who were picked for solicitation charges also listed Mitchell’s rental properties as their addresses.
Much of the agents’ focus Tuesday centered around Apartment E at this property on Denune Avenue, which according to one police record obtained by 10 Investigates, was listed as Mitchell’s apartment.
The police report from September of 2018 was called in by a woman who said she witnessed a person with a gun “running from Andrew Mitchell’s.” The report later said “Andrew Mitchell lives in Apartment E.”
A source told 10 Investigates that after Mitchell learned he was the subject of a federal investigation in September, people closely associated with him cleaned out Apartment E.
One of Mitchell’s tenants, Robert Garmany, told 10 Investigates that the FBI began banging on the building he lives in around 5 a.m. Tuesday and that it woke up his family. He called Mitchell “an awesome guy” and said that as a convicted felon, Mitchell gave him and his family a place to stay and was always forgiving about paying rent on time.
“Mitch – I don’t have nothing bad to say about him. The man has helped me out. I got robbed in my own front yard just last year and the man waited almost a year to collect his rent,” Garmany said.
He also said the FBI interviewed him last week about Mitchell’s relationships with his tenants.
“They asked me about the sex for rent thing and, like I told them, I don’t know about that. Outside of me paying rent, I have nothing to talk about him having sex with anybody for rent," he said.
Mitchell’s attorney, Mark Collins, declined to answer questions related to this, saying he was not privy to the search warrants.
Mitchell has previously pleaded not guilty to the charges in both state and federal court. He remains in federal custody.