Alleged theft of a calf that prompted a Facebook post Friday by the Allen County Sheriff’s Department “could have been handled much easier and didn’t need to turn into a fiasco,” Cindy Jaroe told the Register Tuesday.
The incident occurred Friday when Cindy and Craig Jaroe’s children, including Cooper, 15, were dispatched to Piqua Co-op to pick up livestock feed. In the back of the truck a tarp had been thrown over barrels that were to transport the feed because of threatening weather.
When about two miles from home northeast of Humboldt, the tarp came loose and Cooper stopped to secure it.
Meanwhile, a neighbor mistook the exercise for the Jaroe kids stealing one of his calves. The neighbor followed the truck a ways and called 911 to report theft of his calf, which was later found hale and hearty in a pasture. To the neighbor’s credit, calf tracks were found in muddy places along the road.
A sheriff’s deputy was notified and immediately typed a Facebook post, saying a calf had been stolen and giving a description of the truck. After checking the license plate number, Craig Jaroe was contacted. Jaroe reported where Cooper and truck were, and called Cooper to tell him to stop by the sheriff’s office in Iola.
After Cooper talked to officers the incident was made known to be a misunderstanding. The neighbor, Rocky Porter, later apologized to the Jaroes. A post on the sheriff’s Facebook page also announced the mistake.
The Jaroes, who made their displeasure known to Allen County commissioners Tuesday, are not fully satisfied.
“I’m so frustrated it got out there (on Facebook) and then on social media,” Cindy said. “The post said a calf had been stolen, not that a theft was suspected. There was no reason to put anything on Facebook when they knew where we lived (in relation to the alleged incident) and who owned the pickup. I think their (sheriff’s office) program should be evaluated. They could have used other investigative tools” that didn’t lead to embarrassment for the Jaroes.
“People take things like this seriously, and you never know what might have happened if someone had seen our pickup,” and thought the Jaroe children were thieves. “We try to make sure our children use social media correctly. Everyone needs to be responsible.”
As soon as it was determined the original post was in error, an apology was placed on the sheriff’s Facebook page, which didn’t mollify the Jaroes, although they understand distress arising from the original post has much more impact on them, as parents, than anyone else.
Their fervent wish is officers are more careful and consider circumstances before leaping to social media with accusations such as those leveled against their children, no matter how many apologies come afterward.
The theft that wasn’t: A calf caper
