An Iowa man faces several charges and is behind bars after going to great lengths to fabricate a child abduction report against a Black man.
Mitchell Dutz, 18, of Mason City, Iowa is facing a slew of charges, including disorderly conduct, burglary, obstructing justice and making a false 911 call after accusing 24-year-old James Jackson and two other Black males of stealing his car with a child in the back seat.
Farmington Police have charged Mitchell Dutz (left) of fabricating a child abduction allegation against James Jackson (right) (Photos: WJBC)
Police in Farmington, Ill., received a call from Dutz at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 15, alleging that three Black males stole his gold Taurus with a 13-month-old child in the back seat while he was at a gas station. However, authorities discovered that the 18-year-old lied about the entire story during their interview process.
Dutz allegedly used a photo of someone else’s child from social media that didn’t belong to him as cops sounded off for an Amber Alert. Farmington Police Chief Chris Darsham told reporters that authorities believed the teen’s story because of how consistent his story remained and the swiftness of producing a photo of the child. Cops said the culprit even had the baby’s photos saved as his phone’s wallpaper.
Cops later apprehended the teen after he ran out of the police department moments after the Amber Alert was activated. Moments after his arrest, Dutz came clean to officers that he’d fabricated the entire story according to Fulton County, Illinois, authorities. They said the 18-year-old was allegedly robbed during a drug deal and used the infant story as leverage to pursue charges against the alleged people who robbed him, including Jackson.
The 24-year-old Jackson’s image and name were plastered on electronic billboards during the child abduction search. Police later cleared Jackson’s name, saying the man had nothing to do with the hoax incident, but he still received death threats from numerous people online.
Dutz was booked behind bars on a $50,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 26 in Fulton County. He has a criminal history of trespassing and is also set to appear in McLean County court in January 2019.
As for the infant in the photo that Dutz provided to cops, Illinois State Police figured out that the child and the parent of the child do not reside in Illinois and the child was never in any danger.
