EMU football player charged with larceny after dorm theft
The Eastern Michigan University football team removed freshman defensive lineman Wilbert Mitchell from the team on the same day he was charged with larceny in a building, according to jail records.
Mitchell was held in the Washtenaw County Jail on one charge of larceny from a building, according to jail records.
From emueagles.com
Steiner had no further comment on Mitchell’s situation.
Mitchell was arrested in connection to a break-in reported at 6:10 p.m. Sunday at the Walton Residence Hall on campus, according to EMU police Chief Bob Heighes. Some electronic equipment was reported stolen from a dorm room, Heighes said.
Heighes said he could not release exactly what was reported stolen from the dorm room because the incident is still under investigation.
According to jail records, Mitchell is due for a preliminary exam at 1 p.m. Oct. 18. He was released on a personal recognizance bond Tuesday afternoon, according to jail records.
Mitchell was recruited from Union High School in Tulsa, Okla., where he was named All-District 6A-4 in his senior season, recording 39 tackles and six sacks.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.
Comments
SW40
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 5:47 p.m.
Cash, I'm not talking about a million dollar bond, perhpaps a thousand dollars would be enough. I have no idea what this kid's financial situation is, secondly you need to learn about the criminal justice system before you comment on it. A good portion of the time there isn't a prosecutor present for an arraignment, the accused is brought before the magistrate or jude, the accused is advised of charges with no one to object and the magistrate or judge sets bond. Stop watching t.v and go down to the courthouse, you might learn something.
Cash
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 5:55 p.m.
Trust me. I am well aware of what goes on there. Spent enough time in that venue. Prosecutors do NOT have to attend a arraignment to have already made their position clear. They meet with the judge regularly. So being critical of me is pointless.... BTW, I do not watch any type of "crime" show on tv. Your assumption is quite incorrect. Quite.
Cash
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 5:23 p.m.
Note: Some of the folks wanting to keep people in jail for an accusation of stealing something from a dorm.....are the same people who: 1. want the government out of people's business. 2. want no tax increases. Hint: 1. jails and prisons are government run entities. the more use they get, the more power and control the government has. 2. the majority of the general fund state budget goes to prisons. Locking up more people will increase taxes.
RJA
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 5:13 p.m.
And so it goes, another let out on the streets. Ooops, I just heard on my scanner, a home owner just shot a suspect in the leg with a 9 mm and has him laying on the floor at gun point waiting for police. (another suspect involved too) This is in Brownstown, I hope Washtenaw Co. learns something from this...protect your property...do what you have to do.
RoboLogic
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 4:51 p.m.
Why does somebody have to interject race into the matter? Race is irrelevant. Morgan Freeman once said something to the effect of... "How do we end Racism? Stop talking about it."
Cash
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 5:17 p.m.
Yes, put the blinders on. Ignore it. It will go away. Whistle while you do so.....that'll help.
SW40
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 3:29 p.m.
Cash, Under your philosophy no one should ever be held on any sort of bond while they are awaiting trial. Murder, kidnapping, rape are all crimes where suspects are innocent until proven guilty so we should change our way of setting bond and allow everyone to remain free until their court date. Interesting, I think we should give it a try and see how many of our criminals make their court dates. Oh wait a minute, there are thousands of outstanding bench warrants in Washtenaw County, in Wayne County there are hundreds of thousands of outstanding bench warrants, Detroit has actually began having "get a new court date" days because of the high number of bench warrants. Granted some bench warrants are from traffic tickets, others are from people who just didn't show up for arraignment, preliminary exam or trial. Some of us live in the real world and in that world people commit crimes and the innocent deserve to be kept safe from these predators. If you care for this kid so much why don't you have him come live with you while he awaits his next court date. I'm sure he'll appreciate your viewpoints.
Cash
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 5:16 p.m.
SW40....this is a college student who is accused of taking something from a dorm room, not a murderer. the prosecutor didn't object to his being let out of jail without bond. If you want to talk about the REAL world....in the real world we can't hold every person accused of a crime.
porchbear
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 1:17 p.m.
Personally I don't think that names and photos should be associated with charges until someone is found guilty. These charges could be total garbage...someone seeking revenge or trying to sabotage him...it's so easy to say "he stole my ipod from my dorm room" when in truth he came over and you let him borrow it. Now his entire life is in ruins.
Cash
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 2:06 p.m.
porchbear....wasn't there such an incident in a dorm at EMU recently? The female "victim' admitted she knew the guy and was mad at him or something? And then there was the recent charge of rape or attempted rape at EMU that turned out to be faked. I agree with you.
Elaine F. Owsley
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 12:28 p.m.
How sad to squander an opportunity for an education and an athletic gift. If he indeed stole the items, I'm sure they were not one bit worth as much as what he's lost.
zax
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 11:50 a.m.
is being held in the Washtenaw count jail.... was released on a personal recognizance bond.... is anyone proffreeding this stuff?
Kyle Feldscher
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 3:14 p.m.
Thanks zax, I've fixed that typo.
Cash
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 11:50 a.m.
I am curious.....there was a series of articles about a woman who was convicted of crimes for driving into a couple and injuring them then leaving the scene, while she was "high'. There was no picture of her all along the way even after she was found GUILTY until posters told the reporter that WDIV had a picture of her on their website. The guilty party is a white female. Now this person is accused of a crime, not found guilty, and the reporter goes to the EMU website and finds a picture....and he is black. Can AnnArbor.com explain to us how the decision to post a picture or not post a picture is made? If there is not a policy, maybe it is time for one. Because I want to believe this is coincidental.
Monica R-W
Thu, Oct 13, 2011 : 7:52 a.m.
Excellent comment Cash!
eagleman
Thu, Oct 13, 2011 : 3:18 a.m.
What an absurd post! News sites constantly publish photos of people of all races. If Cash actually paid attention he would not have asked his asinine question. Cash, your
KeepingItReal
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 2:22 p.m.
Cash. Thanks for the commentary. You are right on point. It happens all the time.
Cash
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 2:13 p.m.
Tony, Please understand my concern is due to the fact that I like to consider this site as my "home site"...so it's important to me. I realize it is more important to you! I wish you would institute a policy of "No picture until trial/plea/sentencing".....some firm event other than just a charge. We know there are people who read this stuff and have already found this man guilty and a risk to flee. So really are you providing a service to readers by posting his picture? I wish you'd reconsider. Thanks for posting. Cash
Tony Dearing
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 2 p.m.
Cash: We request booking photos of suspects, and ordinarily are able to get them, though sometimes not immediately. If we have a photo, we use it. Over the course of a year, we cover hundreds of cases and there will be occasions when the Detroit media has a photo that we don't, or that we have a photo the Detroit media doesn't. Race is not a factor in whether we seek or publish a photo, and we publish many photos of Caucasian suspects.
Cash
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 12:51 p.m.
leezee, I did "stop' to think of that. I also stopped to think that there was a picture available of the female who was guilty of hit and run. Thus, the question. I would never feel shame for bringing up a question regarding any discrimination. I would feel shame if I didn't. Again, just a posting of the policy resolves it.
Cash
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 12:48 p.m.
<a href="http://annarbor.com/news/crime/man-deliberately-ran-over-ducklings-with-a-hummer-ann-arbor-police-say/">http://annarbor.com/news/crime/man-deliberately-ran-over-ducklings-with-a-hummer-ann-arbor-police-say/</a> Regarding Duckling story...no picture when the crime was reported initially.
leezee
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 12:45 p.m.
Ever stop to think that a photo was available because he is a football player and they have publicity photos at the ready. Shame on you for bringing race into this. Think about the Hummer duck killer. His picture was shown nearly every day for months and he was white!
Cash
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 12:37 p.m.
I hope this is all coincidence...but seeing the policy would resolve this issue.
tdw
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 12:13 p.m.
Cash I've seen plenty of photo's of whites published.The perverts , drunks and duck killers come to mind.
Cash
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 10:08 a.m.
SW40, "This kid is a flight risk if I've ever seen one. " Wow. We don't know if he is guilty or innocent, we don't know if the theft was real or contrived, we don't know if the missing item is a pair of earbuds or an I pad...basically we don't know much of anything. We don't know who he is staying with, or for that matter, anything much about the young man. I see that there's no prosecutorial objection to the release. That tells me the prosecutor knows more about the situation. For all we know he could be innocent, and back on the team next week.
Ypsi Skunk
Wed, Oct 19, 2011 : 6:45 a.m.
I'm a bit late on this but it seems you covered insulting both the emu police and the washtenaw county pros office. It seems that you think the police would do a bad job of investigating the crime and would just arrest a guy based on a hunch not facts or good police work. And after the police were done bumbling the investigation, the prosecutor took one look at the warrant request and decided to authorize a charge on an innocent man because they don't have enought criminals to prosecute! The criminal justice system in washtenaw county thanks you for your support.
SW40
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 6:53 a.m.
So, he's kicked off the football team, probably kicked out of school and he's given a personal recognizance bond. Is this judge serious, this kid is probably half way to Tulsa by now. A bond is supposed to gurantee you show up for court, why not at least make him pay something. This kid is a flight risk if I've ever seen one. What a joke, way to go Washtenaw County criminal justice system. Good Work EMU PD, Terrible Work Washtenaw County Judiciary.
Roadman
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 12:56 p.m.
Par for the course for the Washtenaw County judiciary, however. See <a href="http://www.a2buzz.org" rel='nofollow'>www.a2buzz.org</a>
Roadman
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 1:32 a.m.
Assumng no prior record, would likely get offered by the prosecution a deferred Holmes Youthful Trainee Act status at his age.
Ron Granger
Wed, Oct 12, 2011 : 1:07 a.m.
"EMU football player charged with larceny after dorm theft" I knew they had some big dudes on the team, but he stole a dorm?