FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 14, 2018
COVINGTON—District Attorney Warren Montgomery reports that Michael E. Mitchell, 36, of Covington, was sentenced Thursday (May 10) to three years in prison for robbing a discount store in Mandeville last year. Mitchell, who was convicted of first degree robbery on April 23, was sentenced by District Judge Reginald T. Badeaux.
The crime occurred Feb. 24, 2017, when Mitchell entered the Dollar General store in Mandeville and demanded cash from the register. While robbing the clerk, Mitchell exposed what appeared to be the handle of a weapon. The police later recovered a B.B. gun from the defendant’s vehicle, but the clerk was unable to confirm it was the object the defendant had in his pocket.
Mitchell was identified five days later, as he sat in the parking lot of another discount store in a car matching the one that had been seen leaving the Dollar General robbery. Law enforcement officers also found dark clothing that matched the suspect’s clothing in surveillance footage of the Dollar General crime.
The St. Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office investigated the case.
During the trial, Mitchell admitted that he had robbed the store, but his attorney argued the crime was a simple robbery. Assistant District Attorneys Elizabeth Authement and Luke Lancaster contended the crime was an armed robbery, as Mitchell had been charged.
The prosecutors said they accept the jury’s verdict and found it reasonable.