We’ve got a crazy and disconcerting tale about a Christian family who faced wild fabricated allegations.
The family in question, JD and Britney Lott, are military veterans hailing from Texas, who along with their children, were merely enjoying a vacation and sharing their experiences with their numerous followers on social media.
The saga started a few weeks following the birth of the youngest child when Britney was confronted with an online message accusing her of child neglect. The accusation was grounded on the baseless claim that her child was allegedly suffering from severe jaundice and sunburn. Naturally, Britney dismissed these unfounded allegations and blocked the message.
That’s when things got crazy.
According to the Lotts, they were at the receiving end of a coordinated online campaign by a group of individuals on Reddit who concocted this narrative about them. The governor of Florida and his office have taken note of this targeted harassment, declaring it “unacceptable,” and have initiated a state investigation.
Following the family’s trip to the Topsail Hill Preserve State Park, the Lotts were contacted by Florida’s Department of Children and Families, informing them that they were under investigation. They immediately identified the source of these allegations – the same Reddit group that has been targeting them for years, intensifying their baseless accusations with the birth of their youngest child.
This group, known as FundieSnarkUncensored, comprises over 200,000 members and prides itself on critiquing fundamentalist Christianity and radical Christian views. The group repeatedly used images from the family’s social media posts, claiming without any evidence, that these pictures were indicative of child abuse.
Upon being contacted by the Department, the Lotts were informed that their children needed to be examined for their welfare. Faced with the possibility of their children being taken into custody, JD, contacted a Christian non-profit who got him an attorney and arranged for the children to be evaluated at a Georgia urgent care. Both the examining doctor and a police officer found no issues with the children and conveyed their disbelief at the baseless allegations to the Department.
Subsequently, the Department informed the family that the case against them had been closed. However, the online group not only continues to discuss filing reports they are still stalking the family hoping to pull another scheme off.
We jumped and took screen shots of what the group was up to…
The family’s attorney, Lynn Salvatore, expressed her surprise at the amount of time and energy this online group dedicates to targeting this family and others like them. She wished that such energy were directed towards a positive cause, making the world a better place.
JD and Britney echo this sentiment, finding it “sickening” that a group would make such a calculated and harmful effort. Britney posed a poignant question – are they indeed free if their faith in the Lord and in Jesus Christ leads to the threat of their children being taken away?
Talk about creepy.
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