ST. MARTINVILLE — Lawrence “Nanny” Mitchell, husband of St. Martinville Mayor Melinda Mitchell, has been arrested — again — for trespassing after he allegedly yelled and used obscenities toward an employee at city hall Friday. 

According to St. Martinville Chief of Police Ricky Martin, Mitchell was arrested Wednesday on the single trespassing charge after a complaint was filed with City Legal Counsel Allan Durand Monday.

Although city hall is a public space, the city council passed a resolution in 2019 banning Mr. Mitchell from city property except during family events. 

“We can arrest Mr. Mitchell for trespassing, being he has been told not to go onto any city property per the (city council’s) resolution and by me,” Martin said. “The resolution itself is civil, but the fact that he was told not to go onto city property and still goes onto city property is a criminal offense.”

St. Martinville only reopened the lobby of city hall two weeks ago, after it had been closed due to COVID-19 concerns. The lobby is the only part of the building open to the general public during regular hours.

Mitchell was heading down one of the hallways off the lobby when the employee asked if he needed help. According to witness reports, Mitchell said he was going to the restroom and didn’t need any (expletive) help. When informed that the building was not open to the public, Mitchell is said to have become belligerent, yelling and cursing at the employee loudly enough that one of the other employees in the building overheard and called the police.

“I brought him to the mayor’s office to let her know what happened.” Martin said. “We made him leave.”

This marks the third time Mitchell has been arrested for trespassing, according to Martin. 

“How many times does this need to happen?” District 1 Councilman Mike Fuselier said when contacted about the incident.  “Does someone need to get hurt?  Something needs to be done this time.”

The city council banned Mitchell from city property after he violated a court order Mayor Pro Tem Craig Prosper sought against him after Mitchell threatened to kill him during an angry December 2018 phone call in Martin’s presence. That order expired in January 2020. 

Mitchell was asked to leave the first city council meeting he attended in February 2020, after the order expired. At that time he was told that the court order may have expired, but the council’s resolution banning him from city property was still in place.

Previously, Mitchell had been arrested several times during 2019 for violations of the court’s stay-away order. 

He was also issued a citation in May 2019 after he was recorded cursing at police officers after a neighbor reported him for burning furniture in his yard. In addition to using profanity and initially refusing to let firefighters on the property to make sure the fire was out, Mitchell tried to intimidate the officer with his wife’s position, reminding him that “she’s your boss.”

He was again cited for trespassing in September after he berated a city utilities billing supervisor and told her she needed to “fix” what he said was an overcharge on his utility bill.

In an email to council members Tuesday afternoon, Mayor Mitchell said she had personally apologized to the employee after the incident.