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Chase leads to man's arrest

The 42-year-old was wanted on warrants on several charges and is a person of interest in a recent robbery.

By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published December 2, 2005

DADE CITY - A chase that began Thursday afternoon in Hernando County ended in an orange grove north of town with a man in custody on multiple warrant charges.

Richard Dewayne Mitchell, 42, has "a long, extensive violent history in Pasco," sheriff's office spokesman Kevin Doll said. Mitchell's warrant charges include aggravated battery, fleeing to elude, grand theft and felony battery.

Dade City police Chief Phil Thompson said Mitchell is also a person of interest in last week's robbery at a Wachovia bank downtown.

Doll would not comment on whether Mitchell is suspected in the Monday night shooting death of a man in a mobile home park on U.S. 301. He said that investigation is pending.

But Hernando County sheriff's spokeswoman Donna Black said in an e-mail Thursday her agency was assisting Pasco in the search for "a subject wanted by Pasco for murder."

The man killed Monday was Bulmaro Joel Lopez. Doll said he was shot to death about 10:30 p.m. inside the mobile home at Carringer Trailer Park, 37412 Carringer Road.

Friends said the 18-year-old Lopez, known as Maro for short, was an immigrant from Mexico who came to Florida about a year ago. He was attending Moore Mickens Education Center to learn English.

Another man was in the mobile home at the time of the shooting. The Sheriff's Office did not identify him, but friend Christina Lancaster of Dade City said he was Manuel Lopez, also 18, the victim's cousin. He was beaten, Lancaster said, but managed to walk back to an apartment on Lock Street after the shooting.

From there, he was taken to a hospital and is recovering.

"He's awake, he's talking," Lancaster said. "He remembers everything."

Thursday afternoon's chase began at a gas station on Cortez Boulevard in Ridge Manor after someone saw Mitchell and called authorities, Black said. A Hernando deputy caught up with him at McKethan Road about 3:20 p.m. Mitchell then headed east on State Road 50 and south on U.S. 301 into Pasco, Black said.

Hernando dispatched its helicopter, police dog and six deputies. Dade City police sent eight officers on the manhunt. Doll didn't know how many Pasco deputies were at the scene.

Thompson said when Mitchell drove into Pasco, he ditched his pickup in a wooded area and ran. He was hiding in an orange grove off Frazee Hill Road and Powerline Road when Dade City's police dog picked up a scent.

In Dade City, police officers were staked out at banks throughout the day, Thompson said.

"We got word he might try to rob another bank," he said.

According to records from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Mitchell has arrests dating to 1984. He was convicted in Pasco in 1987 of weapons charges, and pleaded no contest in Hernando in 1990 to aggravated battery with a knife. More recently, he has been convicted of burglary, larceny and aggravated battery. In all, he has been arrested at least 27 times in Florida.

--Times staff writers Jonathan Abel and Jamal Thalji contributed to this report.

[Last modified December 2, 2005, 01:14:18]