FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WOWO) – The Allen County Sheriff’s Department found drugs, guns and minor girls in the process of a raid early Thursday morning.
It all started in July when an employee of the Fort Wayne Street Department had driven past a home on the 8500 block of Hessen Cassel Road where he saw several girls pulling another girl out of the home, according to the Journal Gazette.
The Allen County Sheriff’s Department responded to the home and found a girl smelling of marijuana and acted as though she was under the influence of drugs.
The girl indicated to officers that 34-year-old Brandon Mitchell, resident of the home, had a prostitution ring that he was operating out of the residence.
Deputies later returned to the home and had no luck contacting the resident as nobody answered the door.
The Allen County SWAT team raided the home around 5:45 a.m. on Thursday morning. During the raid, officers located 12 females, nine of them minors. The youngest female found was 14-years-old.
Officers also found two men in the raid, one of them being Mitchell. The other man and two of the adult women were charged with misdemeanor visiting a common nuisance. One of them was also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Mitchell was arrested and charged with unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious felon, dealing marijuana, maintaining a common nuisance, possession of paraphernalia and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
Invedtigations began in May of 2018 when an anonymous call came in and told police that Mitchell lived there and had lots of guns and several pounds of marijuana in the home. Officers did respond to the home later and noticed a strong smell of marijuana.
Sheriff’s Officers did a traffic stop on a vehicle on July 25. The vehicle was carrying two women. According to court documents, the women were seen walking around Mitchell’s house. The women told officers that their 16-year-old daughters never showed up at home that night and they had discovered that they had spent the night at Mitchell’s house.
One of the mothers had went to the home and knocked on the door. Nobody answered, even though the woman could see people looking out of the window. They indicated that eventually, their daughters had “snuck” out of the home. A friend of one of the women, had tipped them off to Mitchell’s house.
The girls were interviewed by police after their mothers gave them permission. According to court documents, their answers seemed to indicate that they were protecting Mitchell as they were very vague. Also, they would not indicate who was inside of the house.
According to court records, after the raid was finished, many of the teenagers found in the home told officers that Mitchell had given them alcohol and marijuana for free.
Bags of green plant material weighing 26.4 grams, 10 grams and 113.3 grams were found by the Allen County Drug Task Force along with an AR Pistol SSG/223 with one round in the chamber, an M-66 Ithaca shotgun, five 20 gauge shotgun shells and a digital scale.
Mitchell was released on a $15,000 bond Thursday. His hearing is scheduled for Monday.
