by Travis Mateer

While the many hats of Lowell Hochhalter is the focus of THIS post, my interest was first piqued at the beginning of February, when Governor Gianforte’s office announced a partnership with this group’s anti-human trafficking efforts. Who are these Life Guards? I asked on February 2nd. A little over a month later, I have more insights to share.

On February 17th I wrote a post, titled In An Ocean Of Trauma, Life Guards Must Be Better Than Well Intentioned, Or Else They Risk Paving A Serious Path Toward Hell. As I dissected the dramatized images of women being fictionally saved by Lowell Hochhalter’s valiant efforts, one thing I didn’t emphasize is the BIG red flag outsiders will see when employing family members in your savior/money-making efforts.

What’s the problem with getting a family member a job? The answer should be obvious, but for me I see it as a sign of possible boundary issues for Lowell. Navigating an employer/father dynamic while ALSO patrolling the dark alleys for trafficking victims seems like a recipe for trouble.

Another problem with this trifecta of male saviors is the fact the guy on the right, Joe Danzer, seemingly lied to me about his role in assisting the Rebekah Barsotti family last summer in the search for their missing daughter. I sure hope with that $30,000 from Town Pump and HALF A MILLION from the Gianforte Foundation, Joe at least has the business cards he told me were “in the mail”.

To ensure that last figure is properly documented in this post (since the article is behind a paywall), here is the quote detailing the Gianforte Foundation’s financial support (among other donors) to secure this CROOKED Tree Ranch (dot com):

The property cost just over $1,000,000, Tami said, half of which was paid for via a donation from the Gianforte Family Foundation. She also mentioned the Dennis and Phyllis Washington Foundation along with the Gallagher Foundation and Montana Beer and Wine Distributors Association as donors.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot to mention that Lowell’s wife, Tami, is also a part of the team, so add husband to the slash list titling this post.

Now, one Hochhalter hat I thought existed turned out to belong to a DIFFERENT L. Hochhalter. Ain’t that some shit? I discovered this during my increasingly frustrating and unproductive communication with the communication professional at the Sheriff’s Dept, Jeanette Smith. This line in inquiry began with my interest in whether or not a job description for the Chaplain position exists, which I found out was a BIG NOPE.

Since I had to find that out from HR, I made sure to inform Jeanette Smith about the answer to my question regarding the apparent lack of a job description, and my subsequent concern about Lowell Hochhalter’s need for a hat rack.

Another inquiry I made with the Sheriff’s Department is whether or not Lowell Hochhalter has the ability to use official department vehicles, and whether or not he has the ability to serve papers in an official capacity. I got pretty far in nearly including PROCESS SERVER HAT before finally being told that, no, that is a DIFFERENT Hochhalter with NO relation to Lowell.

Here’s LOREN Hochhalter:

My confusion wasn’t helped by this NBC Montana piece, where Lowell Hochhalter literally JOKES at the 5 minute 40 second part of the interview about impersonating an officer of the law. Here’s my quick transcription of the quote:

“We work right alongside law enforcement, we’re not the cops, and we don’t pretend to be th–well, sometimes we pretend to be the cops (Tami laughs…nervously?), but we know our limitations…”

With what I’ve reported so far, are you starting to get the sense that maybe Lowell Hochhalter doesn’t know his limitations?

I’m continuing to dig into this LifeGuard organization and some of the conversations I’m having are VERY illuminating.

Stay tuned.