Accused of dealing THC wax then threatening to kill his girlfriend and young child, a Ranchester, Wyoming, man could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted on all charges.
Jonathon Mitchell, 23, is charged with aggravated assault, possessing while planning to deliver THC wax and possessing felony amounts of THC wax. The first two each carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines, while the latter charge carries a maximum of five years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
His case rose to the felony-level Sheridan County District Court on Thursday. He’s scheduled for an Aug. 29 arraignment.
Court documents say Mitchell graphically described wanting to crush and murder his girlfriend and his toddler-aged son while he rode to the Sheridan County Detention Center after his arrest last month.
Mitchell, however, also told police that he did not hold a gun to his girlfriend’s head as she’d claimed, court documents say.
Pistol, Wax
The investigation started about 11:19 the morning of July 21, when a young woman called dispatch saying her boyfriend had threatened to kill her, according to an evidentiary affidavit by Sheridan County Sheriff’s Deputy Rodney Swaney.
The young woman came to the sheriff’s office to speak to Swaney after that. She said she and Mitchell have a child together and live in Ranchester.
Mitchell had been dealing THC for two years, had paraphernalia all over the house and wasn’t adequately supervising the pair’s young son, the woman reportedly told Swaney. She said he would go to Billings, Montana, and buy several pounds of the wax to sell.
For example, she said, the little boy would roll off a bed on Mitchell’s watch. She said she didn’t want the boy exposed to this lifestyle anymore, the document relates.
She confronted him July 21, they argued, and Mitchell told her to leave the apartment since he pays the bills, says the affidavit.
She refused.
He pulled out what she called a “brown pistol” with the hammer cocked and told her to leave, the document says.
When she refused again, Mithcell allegedly put the pistol to her head and threatened to pull the trigger.
“Do it,” she said, according to her interview. But again she refused to leave, reportedly.
That Did It
Mitchell told his girlfriend that if she didn’t leave, he’d kill their son, the affidavit says. She quickly grabbed their son and left.
The affidavit says the young woman called Mitchell’s mother, who encouraged her to wait an hour before calling police. The document surmises that the mother was trying to give Mitchell time to transfer the wax to his mother’s home.
A social media message sent Wednesday to Mitchell’s mother either firewalled from her inbox or went unanswered.
It was outside Mitchell’s mother’s front door that Swaney encountered Mitchell, says the document.
Mitchell said he and his girlfriend were fighting over their child falling off the bed and he “just snapped,” the affidavit relates. He reportedly said he had a .45-caliber 1911 handgun in his hand when he demanded she leave the apartment, but he denied holding it to her head.
The document says he admitted to taking 4 ounces of TCH wax in a jar from his apartment to his mother’s home, and that he had been selling the wax to “help his friends out.”
He retrieved a bag of four glass jars, full of a waxy substance, from his mother’s home and handed it over to Swaney, the document says.
The wax later tested positive for THC presence, and it weighed in at about 18.5 ounces, the affidavit adds.
En Route
While riding to the jail, Mitchell kept repeating that he wanted to kill himself and kill his girlfriend, and he “went into detail about how he wanted to crush (her) bones and make her watch as he kills her son,” Swaney wrote in the affidavit.
“I wish I had killed that bitch when I had the chance,” Mitchell allegedly added.
Authorities worked to get the young woman and her baby someplace safe.
A later search of Mitchell’s home revealed a digital scale with wax residue on it, pipes and bongs, and a currency counter, says the document.
Citing a statewide policy against public defenders speaking to the press, the Sheridan County Public Defender’s office declined Wednesday to comment to Cowboy State Daily.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
