Charges held after 4th boy accuses former Mars sports official of indecent assault
EVANS CITY — A fourth boy who accused a former Adams Township resident and Mars sports official of indecent assault testified during a preliminary hearing Wednesday, Dec. 17, about two incidents where he believes he was assaulted after sleeping over.
Nathan Workmen Mitchell, 51, of Gibsonia, formerly known as California producer Joshua Werkman, saw charges related to the alleged assault held for court following a preliminary hearing before District Judge Amy Marcinkiewicz.
Previously, Mitchell saw other charges also proceed in a different case where three other boys accused him of similar assaults.
In Wednesday’s case, Mitchell had one felony count each of indecent assault, corruption of minors and child endangerment, and one misdemeanor count each of indecent assault of an impaired person and indecent assault move ahead.
A 12-year-old boy testified he had slept over at Mitchell’s residence four times. Incidents that made him uncomfortable occurred during the last two visits.
Tensions rose during the hearing between assistant district attorney Laura Pitchford and defense attorney Michael Zunder when Zunder began to ask what the boy had told a friend, who previously brought similar accusations against Mitchell, about the incident.
The boy said he and another boy who brought accusations had spoken to each other about the incidents, and both had similar stories.
Pitchford frequently objected to Zunder’s questions about the conversations between the boys, arguing she had tried to give Zunder leeway in questioning, but the boys’ conversations weren’t relevant.
“I’ve given her plenty of leeway when every question she asked was leading,” Zunder said about Pitchford’s questions to the boy.
The boy said in the first incident, he was offered a singular gummy from a Mott’s snack package before bed. He said the other children present did not accept the gummy, and the gummy tasted bad.
The boy described how he awoke during the night to find evidence he’d been assaulted.
He said he told his mother when he went home the next morning, and his mother reportedly told him not to return to Mitchell’s residence.
The boy slept at Mitchell’s residence once afterward and experienced a similar incident when he and Mitchell slept on the ground beside another child.
Like the first incident, the boy also took the gummy while the other boys declined.
The boy also said Mitchell would sit on his legs and tickle the boy’s sides, which made him uncomfortable.
Mitchell was affiliated with Mars Youth Football, where he is banned from all program activities. He was placed on leave at the Adams Area Fire District, where he served as a firefighter and EMT, and at Quality EMS, where he served part time as an EMT.
He was employed as the director of cardiology elsewhere, according to Mitchell’s testimony in a Sept. 10 preliminary hearing. The name of his employer was not mentioned at the previous hearing, but Mitchell testified at the time he traveled to Allegheny and Westmoreland counties for work.
A man named Nathan Mitchell had been a practice administrator for pulse cardiology in San Bernardino County, Calif., after graduating from American Career College-Ontario, according to a 2016 article posted by the college.
According to a report by TMZ, Joshua Nathan Werkman was the CEO of Merimark Entertainment and the manager of actors Dylan and Cole Sprouse.
Mitchell is also facing three felony counts each of corruption of minors and child endangerment, two felony counts each of sexual assault by a sports official and indecent assault of a person less than 13, three misdemeanor counts of indecent assault, two misdemeanor counts of indecent assault of an impaired person and misdemeanor indecent assault of a person less than 13 related to the first three boys who accused him in a separate case.
A status conference in that case is scheduled for 9 a.m. Feb. 24 in Butler County Common Pleas Court before Judge Maura Palumbi.
