Cape County neighbors at odds again; woman fears for her family's safety

Five days after he was released by a judge on his own recognizance, Larry Gene Hottel, 44, was arrested on suspicion of similar circumstances to an incident that had him in Cape Girardeau County Jail since Thanksgiving.

And his neighbor said she fears he is intent on harming her or her family.

Hottel was arrested by Cape Girardeau County sheriff’s deputies Saturday on his property. He has been charged with misdemeanor violation of an order of protection, misdemeanor peace disturbance and misdemeanor resisting arrest. The Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney’s office filed a motion to revoke that bond Monday. The bond for Hottel’s most recent charges was set at $20,000 cash only, with the condition Hottel have no contact with the victims.

Hottel’s neighbors, Kristy Strop and her family, called deputies with the complaint Hottel was playing loud music at 8:04 a.m., according to Strop and a probable-cause statement written by S.M. Landreth. After deputies responded, Hottel responded by shouting expletives, playing his music louder and revving a motor, according to Strop and the probable-cause statement.

“We’re well aware the Strops’ fear for their safety,” sheriff’s department Capt. David James said. “We have to go out. ... That makes him mad.”

Strop said Hottel “went ballistic” after sheriff’s officers talked to him about his music. At 5:15 p.m. that day, Strop reported hearing gunshots from her neighbors’ yard, and she heard Hottel shout obscenities at them. She said other neighbors who are friendly with Hottel were shooting guns from their yards.

“I’m betting we had more rounds shot than some vets have heard,” Strop said. “It was mind-numbing.”

James said there was no evidence Hottel was firing guns Saturday. Landreth wrote he searched Hottel’s property with the consent of Hottel’s wife. He did not find shell casings or other evidence guns had been fired. Landreth asked Hottel whether he shot guns that day, and Hottel denied it. Hottel also denied he made any statements directed toward the Strops.

When Landreth advised Hottel he was under arrest for violating an order of protection, Hottel walked away, and he had to be “assisted to the ground with minimal force.”

Hottel was issued a stalking protection order Dec. 11 after he was arrested on Thanksgiving on suspicion of unlawful use of a weapon, resisting arrest and domestic assault.

Strop said Hottel made threats to kill her entire family on Thanksgiving — a detail included in the probable-cause report filed by deputy Ben Juergens. Strop said she saw Hottel holding a gun on his porch on Thanksgiving, a claim that matches her testimony in a preliminary hearing Jan. 5.

In Juergen’s probable-cause report, the Strops said they heard gunshots that came from Hottel, a claim Hottel denied in court. In a March 14 hearing, Hottel said he was using a BB gun, and the noises his neighbors thought was gunfire was his engine backfiring or aerosol cans exploding in a fire. Judge Benjamin Lewis gave the prosecution until March 25 to prove a gun was used, and that case was continued.

James said a gun was never a part of the sheriff department’s evidence in the case. The department has not been granted a search warrant in the case. Strop said Hottel shoots guns all the time. Hottel is a felon (persistent driving while intoxicated in 2006 and tampering with a motor vehicle in 1998), and it would be a class C felony for him to possess a firearm. Assistant prosecuting attorney Angel Woodruff noted the count could have been added Feb. 8.

Hottel already has pleaded guilty to a charge of misdemeanor domestic assault, stemming from events that occurred early in the day on Thanksgiving. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail, with time served. That sentence was completed March 25.

The completion of that sentence was part of Hottel’s rationale in writing a letter to Lewis on March 21, asking to be released on an recognizance bond.

“I Larry Hottel, would humbly like to ask your honor to consider granting my release on my own reconnaissance on March 25 until my court date on March 28, as my time will be served on case (misdemeanor domestic) and I was unable to plea either way on case (unlawful use of a weapon),” Hottel wrote in the letter. “In previous cases I’ve had in the past before your honor, I have always been allowed to remain free on bond and have never failed to appear before your honor, thus making myself a good candidate for bond.”

Strop said she believes Hottel will shoot a member of her family if he is released from jail again.

“He’s going to shoot a member of my family; I have no doubt about it,” Strop said. “The law is there to protect all of us. He threatened to kill my children. ... That’s an epic fail.”

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address:

4000 block of Route U, Whitewater, Mo.