Springfield couple accused of faking death slated to appear on Judge Mathis

A Springfield couple who allegedly got money by telling a tale of woe — going so far as to produce an obituary for a man who wasn’t dead — are slated to be questioned in front of millions by TV judge Greg Mathis.

Linda Hart, of Ridgedale, near Branson, first filed a small claims complaint in Taney County Circuit Court in May seeking $1,600.

The petition says Jacqueline Scott, of Springfield, told Hart she was having “numerous mishaps” with her daughter, her car, and someone using her boyfriend’s identity to buy a Cadillac. Scott also lamented she had to spend $900 on an attorney and was late on a mortgage payment. The suit named the boyfriend, Sean Pottle, too.

Hart said in the complaint that Scott failed to pay her back several times as planned, causing Hart to call Scott.

“She said that night on his way home (Pottle) pulled over to help someone change a tire and was hit by a car,” the petition says, adding that Scott called back and said, “he died Tuesday morning in St. Louis.”

On May 16, an obituary for Pottle ran in the News-Leader.

“Sean is not dead,” the complaint says, “and they have no intention of paying me back.”

Hart, reached by phone Tuesday, said she’d met Scott at work and had known her for about three weeks when Scott asked for financial help.

“I had saved that money to go on vacation with my grandchildren,” Hart said. “I couldn’t believe someone would fake a death to get out of paying someone back.”

Dan Norselli, president and publisher of News-Leader Media Group, said he was alerted to what was determined to be a false obituary.

He said a woman came into the office to get an obituary placed in the paper. She showed the obituary clerk a death certificate and said there was no funeral home involved.

Norselli said most obituaries come through funeral homes and don’t require further verification on the News-Leader’s part, but those in which a person is being cremated or is having a body donated to science can come directly from the family.

He said that process requires a birth certificate to be presented and matched to the death certificate. He said he’s not aware of a false obituary being printed at any other time.

Hart said coworkers kept telling her they suspected Scott was not giving her accurate information. It wasn’t until Hart reached out to the National Guard to find out about a benefit for Pottle that she learned the truth.

Hart said Scott had told her the National Guard was going to have a benefit for the family after Pottle’s death. Hart said she called the National Guard for information and got a surprising call in return — from the man who was allegedly dead.

“There was some confusion,” she said. “The National Guard had given (Pottle) my phone number and he called me.”

Pottle apparently believed Hart was trying to claim his benefits.

A little over a month after Hart’s suit was filed in Taney County, the case was dismissed.

A document filed says, “We, the litigants, arbitrated our case on the Judge Mathis program.”

When reached by the News-Leader, Hart said the TV judge reached out to her.

“I got a letter from (the Judge Mathis show),” she said. “I didn’t even know who Judge Mathis was.”

The Judge Mathis show is a daytime network program that includes people representing themselves in a sort of small claims court. Hart said she also got a letter from the Judge Judy show.

Hart said producers on the Mathis show told her they would pay what Scott owed, regardless of the outcome of the case.

Hart did, however, win a $1,600 judgment. She and Scott were both paid appearance fees, she said.

When reached by the News-Leader, Scott did not want to give many details about the outcome of the case. She said she signed a contract with the Judge Mathis show that she would not talk to other media outlets.

She did say she “knew nothing about” the obituary until she got to the show. She said she felt blindsided.

“They were all allegations,” she wrote in an email. “I feel like I was tricked onto the show and I am just done with this whole topic.”

She said she and Pottle, who could not be reached by a reporter, want to move on from the issue.

“This was a very bad situation that could have been resolved a different way,” she said.

The complaint filed in Taney County also mentions two felonies for Scott. Court records show the most recent of those was for stealing by deceit.

A probable cause statement in that case says Scott made money by falsifying records at her place of employment in 2012.

The Judge Mathis episode has not yet aired. Hart said a producer told her it will air Nov. 13. Judge Mathis is on Fox KRBK in Springfield.

Hart said she now knows to investigate people a little more before she helps out with money.

She said Scott “found my soft spot” when the two started working together.

Hart’s son-in-law was killed in a bizarre crash in 1999. He was driving a Culligan truck in Urbana, Missouri when it was hit by a truck driven by an escaped murderer from Arkansas.

Multiple news outlets, including the Chicago Tribune, reported on the death of Michael Greenwood, of Springfield.

The story says Kenneth Williams, who escaped an Arkansas prison, went on a high-speed chase that “collided with a delivery truck, killing the delivery driver.”

Hart her daughter was seven months pregnant with twins at the time of the crash.

“When my daughter lost her husband in 1999, people came out the woodwork to help her,” Hart said. “I kind of felt like this was my way to give back.”

While the experience has made her a little leery of people seeking money, Hart said she hasn’t lost that giving spirit completely.

“I just need to know people more and investigate what they’re telling me,” she said. “Of course I would still help someone.”