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St. Martinville councilman to resign after mayor’s husband violates protective order again

Posted at 10:25 PM, May 14, 2019
and last updated 2019-05-14 23:47:00-04

St. Martinville Councilman, Craig Prosper, is planning to resign as soon as there is a replacement for his seat.

This comes after police arrested the mayor’s husband once again for allegedly violating a protective order filed by Prosper back in December.

It’s the third time since December that Mitchell has violated the order. He was released just hours later on a $500 bond, a third of amount he paid after his first offense.

“I’m sitting up there because of my job, to protect the citizens and do what they elected me to do. But, yet I don’t get protected,” he said, criticizing the judicial system.

Prosper says this last violation happened during a special meeting on Friday afternoon.

“I said ‘mayor he can’t be in here’ and nothing was said. And I repeated it and there again she continued on with whatever she was saying. So I stood up, slammed my hand on the table and said ‘this meeting needs to stop, I have to get out of here,’” recalled Prosper.

We tried reaching out to the mayor and she said via text message that she has no comments on the situation at this time.

Prosper said what happened after the meeting raised even more concerns.

“There was a really loud horn and it was just steady. So I look and he’s in the truck and he’s on the horn and then he does this to me, like he’s shooting me with his fingers. And I can see his mouth moving but I can’t hear him,’” said the councilman.

Since December, Prosper said he’s paid more than $4,000 in legal fees.

But for him, the final straw came Saturday morning when Mitchell bonded out of jail.

“So you’re telling me my life is worth 500 dollars? It took a toll on me and I was like ‘is that what the system is about?’”

We tried reaching out to the mayor and she said via text message that she has no comments on the situation at this time.

We reached out to the judge about why the bail was reduced to $500 and her secretary said she is not allowed to comment about open cases.

Mayor Melinda Mitchell and her husband Lawrence recently made headlines because of what her husband said to a police officer who responded to a fire at their home.

In December, Lawrence Mitchell was let off with a warning following a Justice of the Peace hearing about a heated exchange between the two when the mayor’s husband called Prosper on his personal cell phone in the presence of St. Martinville Police Chief Ricky Martin.

In October, Mayor Mitchell ended a council meeting early because, according to her, Prosper was out of order.

The mayor’s husband also made headlines in September when a city employee was arrested for allegedly moving a truck that belonged to him without permission. However, according to a judge, there was “no just cause for the employee’s arrest.”