By ABBY SMITH/Staff Writer
Editor’s Note: This story deals with the topic of sexual assault. If you or someone you know has been the victim of sexual harassment, reach out to UT Tyler’s Title IX office for free and to the UT Tyler Counseling Center, also for free.
A former UT Tyler student is the focus of a child pornography investigation after a search warrant of his residence and phone led Tyler police to find dozens of videos when he became a suspect in a sexual assault case involving a UT Tyler female student.
Police have charged Nathaniel Connor Mitchell, 22, of Flint, with possession of child pornography. He was booked Nov. 6 in the Smith County Jail on a $500,000 bond and is now out on bail, according to jail records.
According to the jail records, Mitchell possessed visual material that he knew depicted children “from infancy to pre-teen years in various sex acts with adults.” Investigators found 29 files of child pornography in Mitchell’s phone.
Mitchell was last enrolled at UT Tyler in the summer 2023 semester, said Beverley Golden, the university media relations representative.
SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATION
Police obtained a court order allowing them to seize Mitchell’s phone and search his apartment after a UT Tyler student claimed he assaulted her.
According to court records, the alleged victim met Mitchell in shared courses at UT Tyler and was invited to his apartment to study.
The woman told a police detective that once there, Mitchell offered her two gummies that she describes as having a “white crystal coating on them.” She said she started “fading in and out” after ingesting them and then lost consciousness, records show.
After losing consciousness she woke periodically throughout the night where Mitchell was performing explicit actions that were not consensual, according to the records.
The woman alerted a friend of her location, who took her to an emergency room where hospital personnel notified the police.
Michell has not been charged with any crime connected to the sexual assault investigation.
STATEMENT FROM ALLEGED VICTIM
After learning The Patriot Talon was preparing a story about charges and allegations against Mitchell, the alleged victim released a written statement alongside her victim’s advocate, Laura Owens, a UT Tyler psychology professor.
The statement says: “Since my brutal sexual assault, my life looks nothing like it did before. I am taking each day one day at a time and leaning into my support system. I want to encourage victims of sexual assault to seek out support. If you are a university student please contact Title IX. They have been so helpful with my situation.”
The university’s Title IX office helps students who are suspected of being traumatized or victimized.
The UT Tyler harassment policy states, “The University of Texas at Tyler is committed to the principle that the university’s learning and working environment be free from inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature. Sexual harassment in any form will not be tolerated and individuals who engage in such conduct will be subjected to disciplinary action,” whether on or off campus.
UT Tyler provides students access to report a claim electronically on their university website.
The alleged victim encourages individuals who have information about her case to contact the officials who are involved.
SECOND ARREST IN CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CASE
Mitchell is said to have received graphic images from Antonio Guevara-Valderrama, a 36-year-old Tyler man who was arrested on Nov. 9, and charged with possession and promotion of child pornography, a 1st degree felony. He remains in the Smith County Jail on a $700,000 bond.
Valderrama’s arrest affidavit states that during the search of Mitchell’s phone, a text thread from WhatsApp was located containing 186 messages between the two that contained an exchange of child pornography.
Mitchell told a detective that Valderrama would pay him for explicit images of himself and to pose nude, according to the information obtained by police.
Mitchell claims that Valderrama, along with another individual, who according to Mitchell is described as Valderrama’s “business partner,” offered to pay him to engage in sexual activity with an underaged girl, according to the jail records.
