Posted on 08/02/2024 2:31:38 PM PDT by Twotone
A Christian family camping in Florida was the target of false reports of child abuse, and now Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says the accusers will be investigated.
JD and Britney Lott, two military veterans from Texas, and their eight kids were camping and posting to their social media following of more than 600,000 when they were contacted by Florida’s Department of Children and Families (DCF). The family explained the situation in a two–part Instagram series and included screenshots of the messages they received.
Their story began just a few weeks after Britney gave birth to their eighth daughter, Florida’s Voice reported. Britney told the outlet she received a message online claiming her child was suffering from “severe jaundice, severe sunburn, and lethargy.” Britney deleted the message and blocked the sender.
But, according to the family’s Instagram post, this “wasn’t just one person.”
“Turns out it’s an entire group of anti-Christian group – working together – on Reddit who concocted this crazy story about us,” the Lotts said.
A top official in the Florida governor’s office told The Daily Wire that the targeted harassment is “unacceptable,” and will be pursued by the state.
“Utilizing government entities to make false reports or harass others is unacceptable and will be referred to law enforcement for investigation and ultimately prosecution,” Bryan Griffin, communications director for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office, told The Daily Wire.
At the end of April, the family had just left Florida after camping at the Topsail Hill Preserve State Park when they received a message from the DCF saying they were under investigation. The Lotts knew immediately where the allegations had come from: An anti-Christian Reddit group that had been targeting the family for years. The group had ramped up its accusations against the Lotts since their youngest child was born, with a “revolving door” of false accusations.
“The level of infatuation required to research the various diseases and disorders our new baby might have is concerning. Does he have to have a serious health issue for them to feel justified? At what point do we admit it’s not about his health but their desire to harm us?” the Lotts said on Instagram.
The Lotts said they believed a member of the Reddit group had figured out where they were staying and had called in the false report.
The Reddit group, FundieSnarkUncensored, has more than 200,000 members and describes itself as a group dedicated to criticizing “fundamentalist Christianity and extreme Christian views.”
In now-deleted screenshots provided to The Daily Wire, the group posts photos of screenshots from the family’s social media posts and claims they show child abuse. In one photo of the couple’s newborn baby, members of the Reddit group claim the newborn “has such a severely burnt face from being AT THE BEACH with no sun protection,” without any proof other than the photo of the newborn with a slightly red face.
Another screenshot, taken days before the family was reported, showed a user saying they had “identified their current location and I’m reporting to FL abuse hotline,” with other members cheering their decision.
A post from a month earlier showed members discussing how to report the family, including finding their location and saying that “a few” members had already reported the family. Numerous screenshots show members asking where the family is so they can be reported.
When DCF contacted the family, it quoted verbatim a comment on one of the family’s photos as the basis for its investigation, even using the same terms of “jaundice, lethargy, and sunburn,” according to a synopsis of the case from the Family Freedom Project (FFP), which is assisting the Lotts.
DCF contacted the family on April 30 – just after they left Florida – and demanded a welfare check on the children, otherwise they would “seek an Order To Take Into Custody which is enforceable nationwide.”
JD spoke to the caseworker, according to FFP, and requested time to find an attorney. The caseworker allegedly told the father that if the children were not available for inspection by the end of the day, they would be removed from the family. The family contacted the Texas Home School Coalition and FFP, which found them an attorney who arranged for the children to go to a Georgia urgent care facility so that a doctor could inspect the children. That doctor, along with a Georgia police officer, found no issues with the children and reported back to DCF while also reportedly expressing indignation at the spurious allegation that had been treated as dire by DCF.
DCF then informed the family that it had closed the case against them.
Members of the Reddit group still discuss filing reports with children’s services and continue to post photos of the couple’s baby, claiming something is wrong.
The family’s attorney, Lynn Salvatore, told Florida’s Voice that situations like these are “not uncommon.”
“What amazes me is that the amount of time and energy that these people on Reddit spend to target this family and other families is mind boggling. If they could just channel that energy for something that is productive, it would be amazing, the world would be a better place,” Salvatore told the outlet.
JD told the outlet that it was “sickening” that a group would make a “coordinated effort to harm our family by swatting us using the government.”
“The question is, are we actually free? Are we, as Americans, free because if we can’t say online that ‘I believe in the Lord and I believe in Jesus Christ,’ then am I free? I would say no, if I can’t say that without my children being taken, that’s not a free country anymore,” Britney added.
Florida’s DCF told The Daily Wire that it “is required to investigate all allegations of abuse, neglect, or abandonment to ensure the safety of children. Under section 39.202 of the Florida Statutes, any information about these investigations is strictly confidential, ensuring the privacy and safety of all involved.”
“False reports are reported to law enforcement for criminal investigation and prosecution. Filing a false report is a felony with legal consequences, as outlined in 39.205, F.S., and is also a drain on Department resources dedicated to protecting children from abuse and exploitation,” it added.
The DCF confirmed to The Daily Wire that the department referred the false reports to law enforcement and that law enforcement is investigating.
We got blackballed by Florida DCF ten years ago. Evil people with unchecked power.
Did anyone else notice how this Reddit group isn’t going after fundamentalist mooselimbs, for obvious reasons.
This Reddit group is under the influence of their master satan.
Just false reporting? How about conspiracy to deprive constitutional rights? 18 USC 241 is 10 years.
“”If they could just channel that energy for something that is productive, it would be amazing, the world would be a better place,” Salvatore told the outlet.””
The family’s attorney doesn’t know evil when he sees it. Any person capable of causing such harm to another person is not interested in making the world a better place. Sounds like they prefer and apparently do have a cult following like Jim Jones. And people think this whole idea of social media is THE greatest technological advance!
Family hasn’t learned to STAY OF SOCIAL MEDIA.
yep. why document yourselves and leave it up for people that don’t like you to follow you?
Reddit is a hive of scum and villainy. Leftists try to hijack everything on it
I have always noticed that Christian groups DO NOT go after non believers to harm them but welcome them to their churches to hear and see what we are. It is quite the opposite with what I prefer to call “rabid unhinged atheists”. They are a minority of the atheists but they are vicious. I have atheist friends that are very normal and nice people. This sub group of haters have mental problems.
This is true. I've been on Reddit some researching a couple of things and it's scary the amount of leftist filth that is on display there. If you ever wondered where we find the batchit crazy leftists that vote for people like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, look there and you'll find them. It's as bad or worse than Democratic Underground.
meanwhile DeSantis’ DCF ignores the multiple reports made about lynnette preston (if thats her real name) and John Cook and their guardianship of a 5 year old girl in levy county in a metal shed with no hvac (not a legal dwelling, no running water/septic system). Many reports of abuse and the 5 year old still wears diapers.
90% of Reddit is pure evil!
You got that right. Overall, Reddit is somewhere to the left of Karl Marx.
In 1995, we took our 13 yo son out of a California public school and put him in a small private Catholic school. Within weeks, CPS turned up on our doorstep with concerns about our son and his mental health. After months of “investigation,” threats, and harassment, they finally dropped the case when we refused to avail ourselves of their “services,” which only would have prolonged our relationship with their corrupt organization. IMO, they have to be stopped because they’re destroying more families than they’re helping.
Generate a fake screen name and infiltrate that Reddit group and start dropping anti Muslim stuff in their sub-reddit. Maybe some anti black and anti homo stuff too.
“It is quite the opposite with what I prefer to call “rabid unhinged atheists”. They are a minority of the atheists but they are vicious.”
Like that fraud Micky Weinstein and his “freedom from religion foundation” scam?
He got booted out of the military for being a flaming homo, and has been on a anti-christian jihad ever since filing frivolous lawsuit after frivolous lawsuit.
Don’t forget the civil actions for defamation/libel....This family might have just funded college for all eight kids.
Write down every handle, identify every IP address involved in defaming this family, sue the ever-loving you-know-what out of every single one of them.
Sounds like conspiracy to me. Hope FDLE finds them and brings them to Florida for trial.
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