Daquan Mitchell - Admits to molesting 100 children

Visitors to the rec center say it should be a reminder to all parents.

"You cannot let them go into the dressing rooms or locker rooms by themselves. You need to be with in close proximity to them"

A Lynnwood man may have molested dozens of Western Washington children.

Police arrested 40-year-old Daquan Mitchell Sunday at the Lynnwood Recreation Center.

Two girls, ages 9 and 12, say the man swam up to them in the rec center's swimming pool. They say he flipped them off of their inner tubes and began rubbing his genitals on their thighs and buttocks.

The older child went and told her mother, who then confronted Mitchell. The woman says Mitchell ran out of the rec center, got into his car and drove off.

Police compared credit card receipts from people who paid to use the pool with a partial license plate number written down by the mother. That led them to a condo in Lynnwood, where they arrested Mitchell.

Visitors to the rec center say it should be a reminder to all parents.

"You cannot let them go into the dressing rooms or locker rooms by themselves. You need to be with in close proximity to them," said Kim Carrell.

During an interview with police, Mitchell told detectives he'd been in trouble before for the same reason. He said he began visiting swimming pools and lakes in 1989, and that over the years, he'd probably victimized at least 100 children.

Mitchell appeared in court Monday where a judge set his bail at $300,000.

Outside the courthouse, the Mitchell's mother said her son had undergone sexual deviancy treatment in the past, but that recently, he had stopped taking his medication.

"I'm dying inside. I really am. He's 40 some years old and I can't help him," said Lee Webb, Mitchell's mother. "And the medication is what he needs to maintain himself."