Florida foster mom charged with murder of child violated pre-trial release, prosecutors say

Brevard County prosecutors say Lakeisha Mitchell was working as a private security guard at a courthouse in Titusville before a staffer recognized her. Prosecutors say the alert worker quickly told a sheriff's deputy, who was on duty at the court. They say Mitchell gave the deputy a false birthday and claimed she didn't have any pending charges against her. 

Orlando attorney Whitney Boan says these were clear red flags. "It does show that there's concerns with regard to having the court and the public's trust with regard to what you're doing with yourself while you're pending criminal charges."

Mitchell is charged with the first-degree murder of a four-year-old foster child she was caring for last August. The court strapped her with an electronic monitor after she posted bond. Along with the courthouse job, prosecutors say she violated her pretrial release, traveling all over Brevard County and beyond. "Then there's issues of is someone a flight risk? Are they potentially going to leave and evade prosecution at that point," Boan said.

Prosecutors say Mitchell will stay in custody without bond while waiting for her murder trial to start. Courthouse security contractor Paragon Security’s CEO said that Mitchell had permission to work while waiting for her background check to clear. Brevard County wouldn't comment on the incident or its effect on Paragon's work with the county.

Boan says not surprising that it took prosecutors many months before revoking Mitchell’s pre-trial release. "It isn't particularly shocking to me they would need time to pull together all the GPS evidence they would need time to verify where there's security camera footage or anything like that."