As a former Cincinnati police officer, Adrian Mitchell understands hierarchy and chain of command. That chain led all the way up to a three-star general of the U.S. Army who Wednesday accused Mitchell of wrecking the life of the general’s sister.
Adrian Mitchell will spend three years in prison after a federal judge sentenced him Wednesday in a scheme to defraud an insurance company. But prosecutors and the general said the scheme was much worse than it sounds.
Mitchell was a Cincinnati police officer who operated a foreclosure rescue and real estate business on the side. Police say he solicited homeowners having financial problems and offered to buy their houses, which they would then rent from him. If they couldn’t pay, he’d evict them.
One of the owners committed suicide. That was the general’s brother-in-law. Prosecutors say Mitchell then forged the widow’s name on a life insurance claim form and falsely represented himself to the insurer as a family member, depositing the $188,327 proceeds into his business bank accounts.
He pleaded guilty in February to one count of mail fraud and one count of filing a false income tax return.
On Wednesday, he faced the judge for his sentencing. But first he had to listen as Army Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, one of the top officers at the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington D.C., who recalled the devastation to his sister, who hasn’t recovered after losing her husband, home, and insurance proceeds.
Mitchell apologized to the general, the court and to his own family and friends. He said he had a lapse in judgment and apologized to the citizens of Cincinnati for betraying their trust as a police officer.
The judge ordered him to pay full restitution to the victim and an additional $101,274 to the IRS for false business claims on his 2004 tax return. He’ll serve three years parole after his release from prison.
