BROWNWOOD BULLETIN (Texas) 08 July 04 Wal-Mart snake bite 'victim' may be charged (Steve Nash)
Douglas Hatchett, the Bangs man who claimed he was bitten by a rattlesnake while shopping in the Brownwood Wal-Mart store on Sept. 29, could be charged as early as today with making a false report, Brown County Attorney Shane Britton said Wednesday.
Britton said he has completed a complaint and will file it in Brown County Clerk Margaret Wood's office as soon as it is signed by the Brownwood Police Department's investigating officer. He said he hopes that will be today.
"All the necessary paperwork has been completed, and once the investigating officer swears to its accuracy, it will be filed," Britton said.
Hatchett has other legal problems as well. He was arrested last weekend on an unrelated felony burglary warrant in a Brownwood case and is free on $50,000 bond, Brown County Jail records show.
He also was arrested in January on a McCulloch County warrant to revoke his probation in a theft-by-check case in that county. Hatchett was released on a $1,000 bond.
Britton said he will file a three-count information, which he described as the misdemeanor equivalent of an indictment, charging that Hatchett made a report of a snakebite that he knew to be "false or baseless."
Hatchett, 32, said he was bitten by a baby rattlesnake when he reached for a pair of shoes on a rack in the Wal-Mart store's shoe department. He has said he flung the snake, estimated at 14 to 16 inches in length, to the floor and stomped it to death.
Wal-Mart employees saw a small dead rattlesnake on the floor, and authorities put the snake in a freezer at the police department, authorities have said. Police said recently the snake is still in the freezer.
Hatchett told an employee he'd been bitten and asked for a snake-bite kit. But he said he did not want an ambulance called and he didn't want to be taken to the hospital. He said store officials told him they had to call an ambulance because of company policy, and he was taken to Brownwood Regional Medical Center. Hatchett said he was treated for snake bite.
Wal-Mart officials have said Hatchett's account "doesn't add up" but have declined to say why.
According to a report filed with the Brownwood Police Department, a hospital employee told police that doctors did not believe he was bitten.
Hatchett gave numerous media interviews after he said he was bitten, but he said in January that he would no longer talk with reporters. He said he had hired an Austin attorney, whose name he did not know, and that the attorney had told him to stop talking with reporters.
Britton said authorities conducted a lengthy and thorough investigation into the reported snakebite. He said the investigation was slowed by the fact that many witnesses wanted to remain anonymous because they fear Hatchett.
In the burglary case, Hatchett was arrested after a June burglary in the 4000 block of Austin, according to a complaint filed at the Brown County Courthouse. The home's owner lives in Lubbock.
A man later identified as Hatchett claimed to be selling the home on behalf of a financial institution, according to the complaint. The man claimed the financial institution had acquired the home because taxes were delinquent, and several items of furniture were taken from the home, the complaint states.
Wal-Mart snake bite 'victim' may be charged