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John Boehner.(Photo: AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
CINCINNATI — About a week before Michael Hoyt had an apparent mental breakdown, claimed to be Jesus, and told police he wanted to kill House Speaker John Boehner, he was fired from his bartending job at an area country club.
Hoyt had worked at Wetherington Golf and Country Club in West Chester Township, where Boehner is a member, for at least five years. He was fired, court documents say, for being "confrontational" with club members and "insubordinate to management."
At Wetherington, Hoyt was the bartender who seemingly knew every member's preferred drink and had it ready when they sat down. He knew most everyone's name. He regularly served Boehner.
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"He appreciated the members, and the members appreciated him," said George Lang, a West Chester Township trustee who joined the country club more than two decades ago. He couldn't explain the firing. Club officials did not return messages seeking comment.
Lang said he never had concerns about Hoyt. Boehner, in fact, told investigators that he "did not recall any negative interactions" with him.
Michael Hoyt<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Provided)
Hoyt, 44, is scheduled to stand trial Monday in federal court on a charge of making a threat to a government official. He faces up to 10 years in prison. His attorneys, Martin Pinales and Candace Crouse, say in court documents that they intend to pursue a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity.
Pinales declined to talk further about the case. Earlier this year, Hoyt was found competent to stand trial after being stabilized through medication. The finding means he understands the charges against him and can assist in his defense.
It's not clear if the firing sent Hoyt into a tailspin that on Oct. 29, 2014, led a police officer to go to his Deer Park home. It was then, court documents say, Hoyt told the officer he intended to kill Boehner. Among Hoyt's reasons: Boehner was "responsible for Ebola."
Some believe Hoyt's apparent psychotic episode was the culmination of a more than two-year mental decline that began when Hoyt suffered a head injury in an incident at a Deer Park bar.
Michael Hoyt, a former Deer Park bartender at Wetherington Golf Country Club in West Chester Township, is scheduled to appear in court later this month on charges of threatening to kill House Speaker John Boehner.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: The Enquirer/Kareem Elgazzar)
People who know him, including Lang, say Hoyt was never the same after that 2012 incident.
He became "kind of scatter-brained" and forgetful, said his longtime friend, 40-year-old Chris Owen. Hoyt was known as a heavy drinker, but after the incident seemingly was not able to tolerate alcohol.
"After one beer, he'd be drunk as hell, like he had 20," said Owen, who believes Hoyt should not be considered a threat.
"He's quirky, is all he is," Owen added. "There's no violence in the man, at all."
Immersed in his work
Hoyt, who is being held at the Hamilton County jail, lived alone in a small house at the corner of two residential streets in Deer Park.
He grew strawberries and tended to flower beds. He helped neighbors with repairs or loaned them lawn equipment. When neighborhood kids toppled the wood pile next to his garage, one neighbor said, he took it in stride.
He held jobs since the 1990s at two now-closed restaurants as well as two country clubs.
Before Wetherington, Hoyt worked for several years at Kenwood Country Club, where he was a banquet manager and oversaw staff at events.
Steve Sidoti, executive chef at Kenwood Country Club, said Hoyt "did above and beyond what he needed to do. His whole, entire life was his job."
Hearing devil's voice
Sometime after being fired from Wetherington in October 2014, court documents say, Hoyt began hearing "the devil's voice" from his car stereo speakers and his radio at home. The voices told him that Boehner was "evil."
He sent emails to Boehner's wife and rambling letters to Wetherington members. He posted at least one email and two of the letters to an online blog, titled: "Wetherington Country Club Fired Me For A Bad Attitude!"
"I am MAD as HELL and I am NOT taking it again!" the blog post says.
Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, golfs at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., in 2009. Boehner was a member at the Wetherington Golf and Country Club in West Chester Township, Ohio, where Michael Hoyt was a bartender.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Rob Carr, AP)
In an Oct. 28, 2014, email, Hoyt said he was "willing to drop all of this" if Boehner and another member delivered a "termination report to me, personally." It's not clear what he was referencing.
Hoyt also said in the email that if he "had any intention of hurting Mr. Boehner, I could have poisoned his wine at Wetherington many, many times."
"This is extremely urgent," the email said. "My phone died. I am at home. I have a dog and cat, so please do not bust in. I will leave my lights on inside and out all night. You probably already know where I live."
Hoyt then listed his Deer Park address.
The next day, Oct. 29, Hoyt placed a call to 911 that led police to his home.
In the 911 call, Hoyt can be heard occasionally slurring his words.
"I'm messed up," he tells a dispatcher. "I just want you to call my father, and let him know I'm OK. And … I made mistakes."
When the dispatcher asks where his father is, Hoyt responds: "Everywhere."
Hoyt's mother, Linda Kerby, declined to talk at length about her son, explaining that his lawyers advised her not to speak to the media. His parents are divorced.
Kerby, who lives in Hebron, Ky., did say that she believes the 911 call was a simple plea for help.
"There is such a thing as a mental breakdown," she said, "and it should have been handled as that."
Series of bizarre statements
A Deer Park police officer went to Hoyt's home after the call.
Hoyt told the officer, according to court documents, he was "Jesus Christ and that he was going to kill Boehner because Boehner was mean to him at the country club and because Boehner is responsible for Ebola."
“I'm messed up. I just want you to call my father, and let him know I'm OK. And … I made mistakes”
Michael Hoyt
Hoyt said he had a loaded handgun, the documents say, and "was going to shoot Boehner." A .380 automatic handgun was found in the home and confiscated by police. Kerby, according to court documents, had already been to Hoyt's house sometime before the 911 call and had removed an "SKS assault rifle."
Kerby told investigators her son was not "a violent person," the documents say, but he "had become increasingly agitated and was not eating or sleeping."
Police found ammunition inside the home as well as what appeared to be a bullet hole in or near the ceiling of Hoyt's first-floor bedroom.
He was taken to a local hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and eventually charged with the federal crime.
Boehner spoke about the case at a news conference in January, according to ABC News, saying: "Obviously this young man has got some ... mental health issues that need to be addressed, and I hope he gets the help he needs."
Many who knew Hoyt were shocked by the reports of his alleged targeting of Boehner.
But some said they too noticed changes in his mental state three years ago, after he was badly injured in the incident at the Deer Park Inn.
'Something changed'
According to a police report, the incident happened the early morning of Sept. 3, 2012. It says an unknown person struck Hoyt in the back of the head, knocking him to the floor. Another person, the report says, held Hoyt down, telling him he'd be assaulted again if he got up. It says Hoyt could not identify any suspects.
Owen, Hoyt's longtime friend, recalled that Hoyt's face was slammed into a metal post, leaving a bruise that extended from the bridge of his nose to one side of his forehead.
"After he got his head hit in," Owen said, "something changed about the man."
In the weeks after that September 2012 incident, Hoyt had a "psychotic episode," according to court documents.
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He was hospitalized. During that hospitalization, Hoyt locked himself and his stepmother in his room and began to damage property, according to court documents. He was prescribed medication for an unspecified mental condition.
Lang recalled that Hoyt wasn't the same when he returned to work at Wetherington after the incident.
Hoyt didn't seem to remember people's favorite drinks anymore, Lang said.
Hoyt's appearance slowly changed. He allowed his hair to get longer and he grew a beard.
"He started getting short with other staff – members, as well," Lang said. "He definitely wasn't the guy he used to be."
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