Inmate pleads guilty to escape
WAYNESBURG – A Mt. Morris man who failed to return to Greene County jail while on work release and is now awaiting trial on armed robbery charges pleaded guilty Tuesday to escape.
Timothy Paul Mitchell, 29, 275 Blacks Run Road, was sentenced by Greene County President Judge Farley Toothman to 1 to 5 years in prison, a sentence that will run concurrently to a 17- to 30-year sentence he is now serving in West Virginia for armed robbery.
Mitchell was serving a nine-month sentence under the county intermediate punishment program for driving under the influence of alcohol, second offense, on March 18, 2013, when he failed to return to the jail from work release. He was returned to the jail four days later.
After being released on bond on the escape charge in January 2014, Mitchell allegedly committed several armed robberies in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Mitchell was charged in Monongalia County with robbing the Belko Foods Store in Blacksville, W.Va., on March 30, 2014, and Hot Spot Lounge in Westover, W.Va., on Feb. 23, 2014.
He pleaded guilty to robbery charges in Monongalia County Court and was sentenced in May to 17 to 30 years in prison, according to West Virginia Court records.
Mitchell also is charged in Greene County for a robbery at the Dilliner Convenience Store on Route 88 on March 29, 2014; and in Fayette County with the March 27, 2014, armed robbery at Sporty’s Pizza in Point Marion.
In his sentencing order, Toothman ordered Mitchell be held in Greene County jail for jury selection in November on the Greene County robbery charges.