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Crime & Safety

Man Living Atop Newhart Middle School Arrested

Police arrested a homeless man living on the roof of Newhart Middle School.

Police arrested a transient Tuesday who they say was living on the roof of for at least a week.

Nicholas Mitchel, 27, was approached by a School Resource Officer after the officer heard footsteps on the roof, Mission Viejo Police Service Sgt. Sandy Kirsch said.

"He was just laying on the roof in a shady spot," Kirsch said. "He wasn’t hurting anyone, he wasn’t doing anything and he wasn’t watching the kids."

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Officials confiscated what they said were Mitchel’s camping equipment about a week prior, but were then unable to catch him.

He was charged with trespassing on school grounds and was taken to jail where he was cited and released. School officials refused to comment on the incident.

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A similar situation was reported to the emergency dispatch on Aug. 5. Then a school official found personal possesions inside a classroom at .

Kirsch said it could have been Mitchel.

"We hardly ever get that," Kirsch said of reports pertaining transients. "We did a check of our riverbeds that run off of Los Alisos and we saw a couple transients there and they were cited for illegal camping, but other than that we don’t really come across transients in the city."

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