Sen. Nicole Mitchell, a Democratic-Farmer-Labor lawmaker, was arrested early Monday morning after police found her inside the home, according to charging documents filed Tuesday in Becker County District Court.
Charges say the senator told arresting officers her father had recently died and her stepmother had stopped communicating with family members, and that she wanted her late father’s ashes, and belongings including pictures, a flannel shirt, and other items of sentimental value.
Public records and an obituary posted by a Detroit Lakes funeral home show that Mitchell’s father, who died last month, and stepmother lived on the same block of the same road in Detroit Lakes as where the senator was arrested.
When first hearing of the details of this burglary, it sounded disturbingly similar to someone who was having a mental health episode. Please understand I don't say that to be flip. It's just that too many high profile individuals have had their inner demons play out in the public and it hasn't ended particularly well.
However, the list of charges indicate that this incident was very much premeditated.
At around 4:45 a.m. Monday, Detroit Lakes police responded to a 911 call from a woman reporting a burglary of her home in the 700 block of Granger Road in Detroit Lakes. When officers arrived, they searched the house and found a person inside.
Officers then arrested Mitchell, 49, who while being detained told the stepmother “something to the effect of” she was “just trying to get a couple of my dad’s things because you wouldn’t talk to me anymore.”
The senator was dressed in all-black clothing and was wearing a black hat. Officers also discovered a flashlight in a sock covering which court documents said appeared to be a modification to reduce the amount of light that it would emit.
Mitchell told police she had made the roughly 200-mile drive from Woodbury to Detroit Lakes starting at around 1 a.m. early Sunday morning, court documents said. She admitted to entering her stepmother’s home through a basement window where she had left a backpack containing her drivers’ license, two laptop computers and a cell phone.
Given Sen. Mitchell's position, there are obvious political ramifications to this.
DFLers have 34 seats in the Senate, compared with the 33 held by Republicans. If Mitchell can’t return to the Capitol, Democrats may have trouble passing partisan legislation between now and the end of session later next month.
Considering the untold damage the Dem trifecta caused with their "buffet of lunacy" last year as well as additional draconian proposals being floated this session, it would be a dereliction of duty if the Senate Republicans even entertain working with DFLers on anything as long as Ms. Mitchell remains absent. It is literally the only leverage they have in the remaining few weeks of the legislative session. I say they use it.
UPDATE: Via her Facebook page, Sen. Mitchell releases a statement which seems to contradict what she told police.
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