Beshear: Elizabethtown Couple Arrested, Charged With Seeking Sex With Minor

Attorney General Andy Beshear and his Cyber Crimes Unit today announced an Elizabethtown couple has been arrested and charged for allegedly seeking sex with a minor.

Robert Dean Mitchell, 43, and Stephanie Smith, 30, were arrested in Jefferson County today and each charged with one count of prohibited use of an electronic communication system for the purpose of procuring a minor for a sex offense, a Class D felony.

At the time of arrest, Mitchell and Smith were charged with one count of possession of a controlled substance, a Class D felony. Mitchell was charged with possession of marijuana, a misdemeanor, and Smith with possession of drug paraphernalia, a misdemeanor.

Beshear’s cyber investigators said a 3-year-old and a 6-year-old were with the couple when the arrest was made. The Secret Service assisted Beshear’s office in the arrests.

The work of the Cyber Crimes Unit, a division of the Department of Criminal Investigations in the Office of the Attorney General, is part of Beshear’s core mission to keep sexual predators away from Kentucky’s families and children.

“Protecting Kentucky’s children from sexual abuse is one of my top priorities,” Beshear said. “I appreciate the investigators in my office and the Secret Service for working so hard to keep our children safe.”

The Office of the Attorney General’s work to prevent child abuse in 2016 led to the arrest of more online child predators than any year in the history of the office. The number of arrests, indictments and convictions total more than 80.

Mitchell and Smith are being held in the Jefferson County Detention Center and are scheduled to be arraigned tomorrow morning in Jefferson District Court.