HARRISBURG—There are plenty of recriminations going around today about Hardin County Work Camp employee Mike Mott.
Mott, who lives in Harrisburg near the fire station, has found himself the object of scrutiny after a recent incident (we’re no sure exactly when this happened) in which the man backed out of his driveway and tragically ran over one of his dogs, a shih-tzu by the name of Romeo.
This is not Romeo. This is a sample shih-tzu/mix image, being used for the mere reason of "because we couldn't find one of Mike."
Unfortunately, this reportedly occurred in front of Mott’s kids. And further unfortunately, it’s being reported that he and his wife LaShaunda (sp?) are the in the throes of a splitting-up (we call it that because we were in the courthouse today, and there’s nothing on file to indicate the “d” word, although that’s what some of the friends of the missus are saying openly…or were, on their Facebook pages earlier.
There, a group of ladies were recounting that he had dropped off a child (we know her name but aren’t going to use it; but we’ve learned that she’s about 5 years of age) whom he was visiting with (we’re not sure of the technicalities, but apparently, he’s not actually WITH the missus, so this was a visitation). According to one version, when he was leaving and in full view of the children in the home, he just backed right out of the driveway and over Romeo. Deliberately. And with no repercussions from anyone or anything (some who were posting on the matter were stating openly that they believed he should be arrested and charged for such a thing, as someone who would deliberately do such a thing would deliberately harm his family.)
However, on his own Facebook, Mott reportedly posted on the incident, stating that he walked the little girl to the door, and when he did, the dogs got out. He was leaving, and the dogs weren’t rounded up yet, but he apparently thought they were, and he accidentally rolled over one. He stated he was heartbroken, and was worried for his kids and anyone who saw it, as it was truly a tragedy….but an accident. He even recounted how his own mom rolled over his dog when he was a child, and how he hated her for it….for awhile, anyway, as he finally did come to realize that it was an accident. He apologized to all at that point.
We learned today that Mott’s accounting of the incident was a little closer to the truth. According to official sources, there wasn’t anything to “arrest” Mott for—it was simply a tragic accident. Some of the accusations along the lines of him “dropping off” the little girl and deliberately targeting the dog were refuted: these sources said that Mott did walk the little girl to the door, as he would never let her just leave the car and walk to the door of her house by herself. Then they confirmed, through family members, that he did indeed believe the dogs were both out of the way when he went to leave….but sadly, he was mistaken.
This isn’t the first time Mott has been vilified in the apparent hopes that we would pick it up and run with it; last year, at about the time the Todd Fort thing was breaking, sources claiming to be from the Work Camp were attempting to say that Mott was sexually harassing a female CO there. We researched and researched it but could never corroborate it, so the whole thing languished. Then, it turned out that the particular female CO who was making these “claims” was terminated because she was having sex with an inmate. She was trying to throw the scent off her in hopes that she wouldn’t be found out….but it didn’t work.
So, this is a tragedy all the way around, but especially for the kids, as they had to watch their beloved pet get squished (never a good thing in ANYONE’S assessment) and their parents fall apart and become so upset with each other that accusations of deliberate acts are leveled. We don’t know what Mott’s doing to bring such difficulties down on his head…but then again, some people don’t have to; they’re just good guys trying to get through a trying time, and sometimes, on their heads is where it all falls. Our sympathies to the family for the lost pet, & our thanks to the FB peeps who let us in on this, and lead us to clarify it with the official sources earlier in the day.