Stories to Tell: How the Jailer Became the Inmate

In the fall of 2011 a very good senior citizen friend of mine was going through a divorce and was not taking it well. Scotty Hooe was one of my best friends in this world though he was not perfect. He was a self admitted alcoholic and had battled depression most of his life and it had taken its toll.

One day his daughter had reached out to me and said she couldn't find him. She told me he had been talking about going to a location and committing suicide. I went to his place and could not find him, his truck was gone, and so was his trusted dog Buck.

I called his daughter and told him I had feared the worse so she picked me up and headed out for the location he had mentioned. Upon arriving there he was nowhere to be found.  I thought to myself that if he wasn't home and he hadn't committed suicide then he must be in jail.

Having no luck finding him, his daughter dropped me off at my house. About an hour later I received a phone call from his daughter saying he was in jail.

Drunk and taking Ambien he had passed through Advance , Missouri driving erratically a concerned motorist had called the police. Upon being pulled over the officer noticed a gun in his truck. An article published in the June 5, 2012 issue of the Southeast Missourian newspaper described the incident as follows:

"On Oct. 17, Bohnsack stopped Hooe on a complaint of careless and imprudent driving that had been reported. Bohnsack saw a .45-caliber pistol lying next to Hooe's leg, officials said. When Bohnsack instructed him not to move, Hooe allegedly brought the gun toward Bohnsack.,,Hooe then got out of the vehicle and came at Bohnsack, backing him across the road, at which time Bohnsack used his stun gun on Hooe."

After his arrest his daughter told me she had visited him at the Stoddard County Jail. When I asked what I had to do to visit him she told me all I had to do was go to the jail's side door, press the buzzer and say I was there to visit him.

She didn't realize they had made a special exception for her, since she was his daughter, which means I didn't realize this either. I traveled to Bloomfield , Missouri and followed her instructions.

I went to the jail's side door, hit the button for the buzzer and heard a very angry voice over the intercom.

"Who is it?", the voice exclaimed.

"It's Clint Lacy, I'm here to see Scotty Hooe."

The door opened and the jailer called me everything but a White man and told me I had to make an appointment to visit an inmate ( along with any other insult he could muster) and then slammed the door.

I went to the Sheriff's Office and explained the jailer's behavior and asked if the Sheriff was in. The deputy told me he would not be in until the following Tuesday, at which time I told her I did not appreciate the jailer's behavior. The deputy contacted another officer who informed me that the next time I wanted to visit Scotty to call ahead of time.

Once again I did as instructed. Two weeks later I called and when asked how long it would take to get there I told them and once again I was instructed to go to the jail's side door and hit the button for the buzzer.

Once again I heard the same angry voice through the intercom asking who I was, and once again I told him. Once again he through open the door and once again he asked if I made an appointment. I answered his questions.

The jailer instructed me to sit on a stool. A very small, short stool. He asked me if I was the one who "complained on him to the Sheriff".

I told him I was and he replied , "I wasn't hateful to you" and I replied yeah, you were."

He then picked up a can of WD40 and threw it past me as hard as he could into a locker I was sitting by.

"What's your last name", he exclaimed. I told him and then asked "By the way, what's yours?" and he told me.

The exchange became so heated the Sheriff heard and came downstairs to investigate, afterwards I was finally allowed to visit my friend Scotty.

About a week after that I received a letter in the mail from Scotty. Within that letter was a warning from Scotty that the jailer was going to keep his eye out on me and insinuated he would bust me if he could (for what I have no earthly idea).

To make a long story short that was seven years ago. Ultimately Scotty was convicted and spent two and one half years in prison, returned home and later passed away.

Oh, just in case you're wondering what happened to that jailer, he was recently arrested and charged with rape and was fired from his job, which I suspect will soon be the least of his worries.

A story published on the WPSD-TV station website posted the following information.

Stoddard County Jail administrator charged with rape
"STODDARD COUNTY, MO — A Stoddard County Jail administrator faces multiple charges, including rape.
Trooper Clark Parrott with Missouri Highway Patrol says Roy Jones faces two felony counts, one of which is the rape charge.

Jones is charged in Bollinger County, Missouri, Parrott says.
Parrott says the Stoddard County prosecutor requested Missouri Highway Patrol to assist with the investigation."