Dropped neglect, abuse charges stun

STAUNTON — An Augusta County judge Thursday dropped charges against a couple accused of neglecting an elderly woman.

Relatives and friends of Irene Mae Mitchell, 84, left the General District courtroom confused and angry after Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Angela Landes failed to provide enough evidence to certify the charges against Timothy L. Propst, 33, and Gracia H. Propst, 32.

The judge certified 10 larceny charges apiece against the couple.

“They were practically slapped on the wrist,” said Kimberly Richmond, one of Mitchell’s new caregivers.

Mitchell’s biological son Sandy Mitchell, 66, called county sheriff’s deputies in August about his mother’s condition. Deputies subsequently investigated and arrested the Propsts on 13 felony theft and neglect charges apiece. Authorities also charged Mitchell’s adopted son Robert R. Mitchell, 44, after they found Irene Mitchell deprived of food and developing bedsores from laying in her own filth.

County sheriff’s Deputy D.L. Smith said Sandy Mitchell cared for his mother until he became ill himself. That’s when Robert Mitchell stepped up as her primary caregiver, he said. In mid-March he enlisted help from the Propsts and the trio soon moved into Irene Mitchell’s brick home, where the alleged abuse began.

The three started making large withdrawals from her bank account, Smith said, drawing as much as $6,000 between April 19 and Aug. 13.

“They were making her sign checks,” Smith said. “They were taking her to the bank.”

But the pile of checks Landes presented in court didn’t stack up against the arguments of defense attorneys James Dungan and Troy Abbott.

Without proof Irene Mitchell signed the checks against her will, and without proof of where the money went, Landes’ case started to disintegrate.

According to the testimony of Sandy Mitchell, certified nurses checked on his mother multiple times a week. That statement prompted Dungan and Abbott to ask why the nurses never reported anything wrong. Landes could not provide an explanation.

Sandy Mitchell leaned against his cane outside the courtroom after the hearing. He said he still believes the Propsts stole money from his mother.

“I don’t like it,” he said. “Mom never spent that kind of money in a year’s time.”

Irene Mitchell’s condition, meanwhile, is worsening, he said. Today, she uses morphine to fight pain, eats very little and drinks from a syringe, he said.

“I don’t think she’ll be here by January,” he said.

In September, a judge certified to grand jury all 13 counts against Robert Mitchell. Attorneys offered no evidence during a brief hearing and the defense conceded that authorities provided sufficient evidence to move the case forward.