{"id":244666,"date":"2026-07-16T08:48:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T08:48:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/244666\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T08:48:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T08:48:25","slug":"erie-registered-sex-offender-charged-with-attempted-sexual-assault-of-a-minor-joplin-news-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/244666\/","title":{"rendered":"Erie registered sex offender charged with attempted sexual assault of a minor | Joplin News First"},"content":{"rendered":"

ERIE, Kan. (KOAM) — A federal judge charged an Erie, Kansas, man for allegedly trying to arrange a meeting to sexually abuse a child.<\/p>\n

The FBI, alongside other agencies, launched an investigation into possible child abuse after a concerned citizen filed a complaint against a Missouri individual who “expressed a desire for an adult male to sexually abuse” their “minor daughter”.<\/p>\n

In June, the FBI interviewed the Missouri individual, who admitted to using different online platforms to discuss sexual abuse of minors.<\/p>\n

The individual claimed to have never met up with anyone to sexually abuse a child, nor did they have a minor daughter, and provided their accounts to investigators in hopes of uncovering communication with other users.<\/p>\n

The agents found a message thread between the individual and Richard V. Mitchell under the username of “Rick691981”.<\/p>\n

\"Richard<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Richard V. Mitchell, 63, was convicted in 2002 of Indecent Liberties with a Child in Girard, Kan. Part of his sentence was being a registered sex offender for 25 years. That would have expired in May 2027.<\/p>\n

Richard V. Mitchell, 63, was convicted in 2002 of Indecent Liberties with a Child in Girard, Kan. Part of his sentence was being a registered sex offender for 25 years. That would have expired in May 2027.<\/a><\/p>\n

Agents could not find any communication between the two before the date of June, 25, 2026, according to court documents. It is believed messages may have been deleted.<\/p>\n

Messages between them included having sexual relations with each other and participation by the minor.<\/p>\n

Eventually, Mitchell provided the individual with a phone number, where messages and images were sent back and forth until June 28.<\/p>\n

On July 7, an FBI agent, logged in as the individual, messaged Mitchell apologizing for the lack of responses.<\/p>\n

The agent posing as the individual told Mitchell that they had to move to Kansas City, Missouri, for a new job. Mitchell continued asking to meet the minor.<\/p>\n

The agent then told Mitchell that the earliest they could meet would be July 10. They discussed meeting at a park in Erie, Kansas, near his home.<\/p>\n

The agent reiterated to Mitchell that the minor was 9-years-old, but Mitchell continued.<\/p>\n

After confirming it was Mitchell through cell phone record information and various other sources, the agent agreed to meet with him.<\/p>\n

On July 10, Mitchell arrived at the park, and investigators arrested him.<\/p>\n

On July 13,Mitchell appeared in federal court on a two-count criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

Attempted Enticement of a Minor to Engage in Sexual ActivityOffense by a Registered Sex Offender<\/p>\n

\"Richard<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Richard V. Mitchell, 63, was convicted in 2002 of Indecent Liberties with a Child in Girard, Kan. Part of his sentence was being a registered sex offender for 25 years. That would have expired in May 2027.<\/p>\n

Richard V. Mitchell, 63, was convicted in 2002 of Indecent Liberties with a Child in Girard, Kan. Part of his sentence was being a registered sex offender for 25 years. That would have expired in May 2027.<\/a><\/p>\n

Mitchell was convicted in 2002 of Indecent Liberties with a Child in Girard, Kan. Part of his sentence was being a registered sex offender for 25 years. That would have expired in May 2027.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ERIE, Kan. (KOAM) — A federal judge charged an Erie, Kansas, man for allegedly trying to arrange a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":244154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137,104555,104556,14482,104554,104553],"class_list":["post-244666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-fbi-kansas-city","tag-kbi","tag-registered-sex-offender","tag-richard-virgil-mitchell","tag-sa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244666"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244666\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}