Community Corner

Former Foster Dad Charged with Molesting Kids

District Attorney vows "We are going to land on this defendant like a ton of bricks."

 

A 60-year-old West Bradford Township man is behind bars facing charges that he molested two young girls who were in his care when he was a foster parent.

Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan says Leroy Mitchell and his family hosted more than 50 foster children over several decades. According to a press release from Hogan, Mitchell was originally arrested on Friday on charges that he molested a 9-year-old girl. 

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The District Attorney says additional charges were filed on Tuesday accusing Mitchell of molesting a second girl when she was between the ages of seven and nine.  An affidavit of probable cause filed in the second case says Mitchell confessed to molesting the second girl in the summer of 2012 while she was in his care.

Neighbors in Disbelief

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“I’m kind of confused because they’ve always been so family oriented, you know, it’s kind of where the kids congregate,” neighbor Robert Mendenhall told CBS3/Eyewitness News Report Elizabeth Hur.

“I couldn’t, you know, from my heart see that–him doing that or what he’s accused of, you know, we’ll have to–I’d have to make my judgments later on to see how this plays out,” Mendenhall told CBS3.

The District Attorney Vows Tough Prosecution

A copy of the charging documents filed in the case includes graphic details of the alleged crime.  The documents are attached to this article as a pdf file.

Hogan pulled no punches in his press release announcing the second round of charges filed against Mitchell. "We are going to land on this defendant like a ton of bricks," Hogan said. "Anybody who sexually molests a child in Chester County will be arrested, prosecuted and punished as severely as the law permits."

Prior to his arrest last week, Mitchell worked at Chester County Prison as an administrator. Hogan says he was fired immediately after his arrest. Mitchell is charged in Chester County but he is being held in Montgomery County Prison for his own safety on $500,00 bail.

More Charges Expected

Hogan says he expects that "with dozens of foster children there are multiple potential other victims out there."  Hogan says anyone with information about information related to these or other victims should contact Pennsylvania State Trooper David Brodeur (610) 486-6280 or Chester County Detective James Ciliberto at (610)344-6866.


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