Sacto 9-1-1: Inmate who held correctional officer hostage sentenced

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August 6, 2010

Inmate who held correctional officer hostage sentenced

By Cathy Locke
clocke@sacbee.com

A prison inmate who took a correctional officer hostage has been sentenced to a total of 50 years to life, plus 23 years, consecutive to the term he currently is serving for prior felony convictions for robbery, false imprisonment and sexual battery.

On May 6, 2006, Michael Watson, 45, was an inmate at California State Prison-Sacramento, due to parole in 2012. That morning, he took Correctional Officer Sheila Mitchell hostage by grabbing her around the neck and holding an inmate-manufactured weapon to her throat, according to a news release from the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office.

As officers responded, Watson repeatedly threatened to kill Officer Mitchell. He barricaded himself with the officer in a small office in a prison dining area. The Sacramento Sheriff's SWAT team and Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation's crisis response team were called, and after 10 hours of negotiations, Watson agreed to surrender.

On July 8, a Sacramento County jury convicted Watson of holding a hostage in prison and being an inmate in possession of a sharp instrument. Today, Superior Court Judge Gary S. Mullen determined that Watson had committed eight prior felonies. Watson was sentenced under the three strikes law to two separate and consecutive 25-year-to-life terms, plus a total of 23 additional years for personal use of a weapon, prior strikes and prior felony convictions.

Call The Bee's Cathy Locke, (916) 321-5287.

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Q: In 1998 my friend Angela Elise Dvorsky was murdered. Her body was discovered in the river by Howe ave. To my knowledge there was never an arrest and I can find no information on the case at all. Not even from the original incedent. Please help thank you.

A: The body 18-year-old Angela Dvorsky was found May 1, 1998 floating in the American River near the Watt Avenue bridge. Sheriff's officials said she had been stabbed numerous times in the upper torso and was believed to have been in the water for about two weeks.

According to stories in The Bee, her parents said she had been a straight-A student, but they started noticing signs of drug use and the next thing they knew she was pregnant.

Dvorsky was described as a chronic runaway who often hung out on Croetto Way in Rancho Cordova. Her parents said she survived on the streets by running with robbery gangs.

Friends said they had last talked to her in mid-March 1998. They said she was holed up in a motel and seemed paranoid over the phone. She told them she had been involved in a robbery where somebody got hurt and that her "crew" was concerned about her being a witness.

Dvorsky died leaving a 2-year-old son.

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