🎨 Artcow Iconoclast / Jonathan Mack Sweet - The Chris-Chan of Arkansas

[DrChristianTroy]

What did Mr. Sweet do after he was fired from The Herald?

According to those who were there, for well over a year Mr. Sweet would come by the paper's office at all hours of the day and night and post weird notes on the door. Written on random scraps of paper, these notes ranged from demanding that he be reinstated to whining about his "betrayal" at the hands of people he strangely regarded as his colleagues. On a couple of occasions, staffers tried to chase Psycho Martin Luther down when he was spotted putting one of his little theses on the door. Doubtless energized by terror, he proved surprisingly swift and elusive and was never caught. Mr. Sweet continued to post these messages for the remainder of the 1997 spring semester and for the entire 1997-98 academic year.

None of my sources worked at The Herald after the spring 1998 semester, but it's probably safe to assume that he resumed this behavior during his first -- and only -- semester in grad school in the fall of 1998 before being expelled. After he was expelled, he started contacting reporters and editors demanding that they interview him and write stories exposing the liberal/progressive conspiracy that resulted in his expulsion. Finally, an editor wrote to him and told him that if he didn't stop, his activities would be reported to the hated and feared Department of Judicial Affairs. Mr. Sweet has this letter posted on one of his many antiquated websites.

What did Mr. Sweet do to ensure he was the center of attention at The Herald?

Aside from staring at people until they were thoroughly creeped out, injecting himself into private conversations, cursing out the yearbook photographer while discoursing on his fondness for lesbians and generally sperging about at his workstation, he had a special technique he used when people just wouldn't stop what they were doing and focus on him.

He would sneak up behind someone and stand as close as possible without actually touching his victim. Then he would stuff a fistful of peanuts into his mouth and start loudly crunching them with his mouth open. This certainly got him plenty of attention. It was not the kind of attention any normal person would want, but as we know all too well, for Mr. Sweet any attention is better than no attention.

Jonathan, of course, continues to wonder why no one at the paper wanted him back on the staff.

I know I shouldn't be surprised but that peanut thing is creepy as fuck to me.

 

[Dr. Merkwurdichliebe]

@Dr. Merkwurdichliebe, I'm confused. What was the actual reason for Sweet's expulsion? I thought he was expelled for plagiarism, but apparently the penalty for that was just removal from the Herald staff. Has Sweet ever stated why he was expelled or have you uncovered the charge in your investigations?

Herr Doktor Jones' Hat, Sweet was merely fired from The Herald for plagiarism in the spring of 1997.

For more than a year, he just whined about his termination and left notes on the office door. He received his BA in English in the spring of 1998.

When he started grad school in the fall of 1998, he went off the deep end about returning to the paper. The assistant dean of judicial affairs ordered him to get psychological counseling. Depending on which of Sweet's accounts you read, he actually went to one or two sessions, after which it sounds like the counseling center wanted a full psychological workup on Sweet, which he refused to undergo. So he was told he was being expelled. Sweet responded to this decision by making terroristic threats, ensuring that he will never return to ASU.

More importantly, look what comes up when you Google Sweet Bro's full name:

http://mugshots.com/US-Counties/Arkansas/Craighead-County-AR/Jonathan-Mack-Sweet.70935579.html
(archived here: https://archive.is/dliN1)

Sadly there's no mugshot available (maybe the flash was too bright), but we learn that on or around 20th January 2014 a Jonathan Mack Sweet was booked in Craighead County, AR on a charge of failure to appear. The date of birth is an exact match to our Sweetian hero's.

Exceptionally nice find, Absinthe!

No one would be surprised if Mr. Sweet were arrested for failure to appear in his home county.

But he lives in Mississippi County.

Craighead County is the location of Arkansas State University. And the cops don't come and arrest you if it's a civil case, so criminal charges were involved. Why was Mr. Sweet arrested and transported to the Craighead County jail in 2014? (Or, if the warrants are still current, what charges are involved in the case he decided not to show up for?) What the hell has he been up to that's so heinous that not even Jonathan Mack Sweet will brag about it on the Internet?

Edit to add: Until evidence to the contrary surfaces, I'm going to assume that Mr. Sweet either somehow managed to appear on the ASU campus, from which he is banned, or that he started sending threatening emails to someone at the university. He boasts about having contacted the superiors of his former roommate not too long ago and accusing him of procuring underage girls. I wonder if that could have led to charges being filed.

I see that there's a phone number you can call to inquire about the warrants listed. I wonder if they'd mention on the phone what charges he either faced or is facing.

 

[ToroidalBoat]

"A bad craftsman always blames his tools."

It still amuses me how Sweet thinks MSPaint is preferable over GIMP. GIMP can pretty much do everything MSPaint can do and much more.

Of course, there is somewhat of a learning curve, and if one needs to wait for a "geek" from tech support for help in order to use something that's designed to be user friendly, using GIMP may very well be somewhat of a challenge at best. Hell, even downloading and installing a copy may be a challenge then.

 

[DrJonesHat]

Thank you Herr Doktor.

If they wanted a full workup on Sweet, it would probably include the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. It's around 500 questions and is very good at identifying various psychological disorders. It's also very well designed, and is good at picking up attempts to game the test, either by making yourself look worse or better than you actually are. I wonder what Sweet's results would have been. Definitely some kind of paranoia at least.

I'm really, really curious as to Sweet's full criminal history. Let's tally:
He's faced a charge of conspiracy to commit carnal knowledge of a minor.
He got a visit from the Campus Police in 2002, four years after he was expelled.
He got put in jail for attacking his brother.
He got arrested and charged for something that he didn't show up for court for, which lead to two charges for failure to appear.

Did I miss anything?

EDIT: I looked up Arkansas court records, in Craighead county, as well as the whole state, and nothing came up. I wonder if whatever it was it was so minor it got expunged. It could have been something as simple as an unpaid fine for a minor offense and Sweet forgot about it, and he just got picked up in a warrant sweep.

 

[Le Bateleur]

Exceptionally nice find, Absinthe!

No one would be surprised if Mr. Sweet were arrested for failure to appear in his home county.

But he lives in Mississippi County.

Craighead County is the location of Arkansas State University. And the cops don't come and arrest you if it's a civil case, so criminal charges were involved. Why was Mr. Sweet arrested and transported to the Craighead County jail in 2014? What has he been up to that's so heinous that not even Jonathan Mack Sweet will brag about it on the Internet?

wow

Oh this just gets better and better. Thank you, Dr M!

******

Mr Sweet, when you read this, perhaps take a moment to reflect on the maelstrom you have stirred up for yourself. Ponder upon all the ugly secrets from your past that have surfaced in the year since you decided to bump this thread. Consider where the latest revelations will inevitably lead. Think of all the things nobody here knew about you at this time last year: the SSI, the criminal record, the sordid schemes involving child pornography.

Perhaps it's time you conceded defeat? We're shaking hands with the skeletons in your closet.

Lay thine hand upon us, remember the battle, do no more.

 

[sonichuis44]

Thank you Herr Doktor.

If they wanted a full workup on Sweet, it would probably include the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. It's around 500 questions and is very good at identifying various psychological disorders. It's also very well designed, and is good at picking up attempts to game the test, either by making yourself look worse or better than you actually are. I wonder what Sweet's results would have been. Definitely some kind of paranoia at least.

I've taken it before, there's lots of "I know exactly who's behind all my troubles" questions. I would kill to get a look at his scores.

I'm really, really curious as to Sweet's full criminal history. Let's tally:
He's faced a charge of conspiracy to commit carnal knowledge of a minor.
He got a visit from the Campus Police in 2002, four years after he was expelled.
He got put in jail for attacking his brother.
He got arrested and charged for something that he didn't show up for court for, which lead to two charges for failure to appear.

Did I miss anything?

EDIT: I looked up Arkansas court records, in Craighead county, as well as the whole state, and nothing came up. I wonder if whatever it was it was so minor it got expunged. It could have been something as simple as an unpaid fine for a minor offense and Sweet forgot about it, and he just got picked up in a warrant sweep.

Is "conspiracy to commit carnal knowledge of a minor" an actual crime? I always took it as more of a Sweet-ism, as being like "Of course the FASCIST LIBERAL COMMIE SOCIALISTS would try to make it illegal to get a 15 year old to pity fuck you!" If nothing else, I think most criminal conspiracy charges require 2 people just by definition, don't they?

Edit:

wow

Oh this just gets better and better. Thank you, Dr M!

******

Mr Sweet, when you read this, perhaps take a moment to reflect on the maelstrom you have stirred up for yourself. Ponder upon all the ugly secrets from your past that have surfaced in the year since you decided to bump this thread. Consider where the latest revelations will inevitably lead. Think of all the things nobody here knew about you at this time last year: the SSI, the criminal record, the sordid schemes involving child pornography.

Perhaps it's time you conceded defeat? We're shaking hands with the skeletons in your closet.

Lay thine hand upon us, remember the battle, do no more.

He'll never give it up. Everything that happens to him will be attributed to The System holding him back. He will twist everything in his mind until he comes out looking pure and blameless - and worst of all, he will believe he is.

 

[DrJonesHat]

I've taken it before, there's lots of "I know exactly who's behind all my troubles" questions. I would kill to get a look at his scores.

I've taken it twice. I too would love to see what's going on inside his head.

Is "conspiracy to commit carnal knowledge of a minor" an actual crime? I always took it as more of a Sweet-ism, as being like "Of course the FASCIST LIBERAL COMMIE SOCIALISTS would try to make it illegal to get a 15 year old to pity fuck you!" If nothing else, I think most criminal conspiracy charges require 2 people just by definition, don't they?

Well, he did say "in the eyes of the law" he's guilty of the conspiracy charge, so that implies the police got invovled. I wonder if his stalking of the young lady caused her parents to call the police, and they threatened him with that charge to get him to leave her alone.

EDIT: The best part of this whole mess is that most of the damming information comes from Sweet himself. The SSI, the hospital incident, his antics at ASU, most of it is direct from him. If he'd just kept his mouth shut, we'd have a lot less material to work with. But hey, he didn't and here we are. It's too late now of course, the genie is out of the bottle and we've got more than enough information to go digging on our own as @Dr. Merkwurdichliebe has shown.

 

[Dr. Merkwurdichliebe]

Thank you Herr Doktor.

If they wanted a full workup on Sweet, it would probably include the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. It's around 500 questions and is very good at identifying various psychological disorders. It's also very well designed, and is good at picking up attempts to game the test, either by making yourself look worse or better than you actually are. I wonder what Sweet's results would have been. Definitely some kind of paranoia at least.

I'm really, really curious as to Sweet's full criminal history. Let's tally:
He's faced a charge of conspiracy to commit carnal knowledge of a minor.
He got a visit from the Campus Police in 2002, four years after he was expelled.
He got put in jail for attacking his brother.
He got arrested and charged for something that he didn't show up for court for, which lead to two charges for failure to appear.

Did I miss anything?

EDIT: I looked up Arkansas court records, in Craighead county, as well as the whole state, and nothing came up. I wonder if whatever it was it was so minor it got expunged. It could have been something as simple as an unpaid fine for a minor offense and Sweet forgot about it, and he just got picked up in a warrant sweep.

Arrest records show that Mr. Sweet has been arrested twice in Mississippi County. One involved his assaulting his brother with a pipe. Mr. Sweet has never discussed the details of his other arrest in his home county. Maybe it involved his failure to appear in the assault case.

 

[DrJonesHat]

Arrest records show that Mr. Sweet has been arrested twice in Mississippi County. One involved his assaulting his brother with a pipe. Mr. Sweet has never discussed the details of his other arrest in his home county. Maybe it involved his failure to appear in the assault case.

Perhaps the other arrest was simply Mississippi County authorities detaining him for extradition to Craighead County for his warrant there.

 

[Dr. Merkwurdichliebe]

Perhaps the other arrest was simply Mississippi County authorities detaining him for extradition to Craighead County for his warrant there.

No. I failed to make it clear that the Mississippi County arrests were well before the Craighead County failure-to-appear charges. I think both Mississippi County arrests may have been related to the case where Mr. Sweet was unable to kill his brother because no one would hold him down.

Edit: I'll try to track the dates down again, and this time I'll post them. (Getting more info costs $40 on the site where I found the data, and I figure we shouldn't pay for what Mr. Sweet can tell us for free.)

 

[Holdek]

Sounds more and more like Jon Sweet is a recidivist criminal.

 

[sonichuis44]

Sounds more and more like Jon Sweet is a recidivist criminal.

Blame Obama's revolving door prisons.

 

[Dr. Merkwurdichliebe]

Is "conspiracy to commit carnal knowledge of a minor" an actual crime? I always took it as more of a Sweet-ism, as being like "Of course the FASCIST LIBERAL COMMIE SOCIALISTS would try to make it illegal to get a 15 year old to pity fuck you!" If nothing else, I think most criminal conspiracy charges require 2 people just by definition, don't they?

You are correct. Even in Arkansas, a conspiracy charge must involve at least two people. This raises the question of who would be stupid enough to engage in a criminal conspiracy with Mr. Sweet. My best guess would be someone with an IQ in the low 70s, tops.

And Arkansas has no law that describes a crime involving "carnal knowledge of a minor." It sounds like Our Hero is trying to make the offense sound a bit less disturbing. What Mr. Sweet describes would fall under the following Arkansas statute.

5-14-127. Sexual assault in the fourth degree
(a) A person commits sexual assault in the fourth degree if the person:

(1) Being twenty (20) years of age or older:

(A) Engages in sexual intercourse or deviate sexual activity with another person who is:

(i) Less than sixteen (16) years of age; and

(ii) Not the person's spouse; or

(B) Engages in sexual contact with another person who is:

(i) Less than sixteen (16) years of age; and

(ii) Not the person's spouse; or

(2) Engages in sexual contact with another person who is not the actor's spouse, and the actor is employed with the Department of Correction, Department of Community Correction, Department of Human Services, or any city or county jail, and the victim is in the custody of the Department of Correction, Department of Community Correction, Department of Human Services, or a city or county jail.

(b)(1) Sexual assault in the fourth degree under subdivisions (a)(1)(A) and (a)(2) of this section is a Class D felony.

(2) Sexual assault in the fourth degree under subdivision (a)(1)(B) of this section is a Class A misdemeanor if the person engages only in sexual contact with another person as described in subdivision (a)(1)(B) of this section.

I think this settles "Ashleigh's" age, assuming that she was the target of the "conspiracy." If she had been 16 at the time, there would be no crime as far as the state of Arkansas is concerned.

 

[DuskEngine]

I am particularly annoyed by this as well. I have no problem with folks who cannot work due to some ailment or condition beyond their control, it's the mark of a civilized society that provides for those who cannot provide for themselves. Sweet could hold a job if he'd simply pull his head out of his ass. What really pisses me off is how he rails against those on government assistance while being on the dole himself. I can tolerate strangeness, and odd points of view. I cannot tolerate hypocrisy at all.

Sweet is a terrible human being who says and does reprehensible things, but he clearly has some pretty severe persecutory delusions that have gone untreated for a long time. He refused to get psych treatment back in college, I know.

I feel like he's an interesting case to talk about issues like involuntary commitment around (especially now that we're getting some more details on his history of violent crime). He's clearly in major need of treatment (if his mind is reparable at all at this point) but he has a bit of a catch 22 going on where his delusions make him by default hostile towards anything that could result in him getting better.

 

[WWWWolf]

Someone who is an editor over there should let them know that the vermin has crawled back in by creating an entry for a user named "The Iconoclast."

I tried to tell him, ages ago, that a) using his user page for his own self-promotional purposes isn't in line with the Wikipedia community guidelines, which state that user pages should primarily be related to the editor's activities with the project, b) putting a link from his home page to his user page and claiming it was his official wiki was bad, and c) as an established, active Wikipedia editor, he darn well should know better - the community guidelines aren't exactly rocket science and are kind of hard to disagree with, at least as far this particular point goes. I think he was saying that he was going to cut down his userpage stuff and move his stuff to Wikia (and yes, his stuff has languished in the Scratchpad Wikia for ages, somehow he was unable to contact Wikia for a wiki of his own and move his material from this temporary holding location to a wiki of its own).

I would find taking his user page to the deletion process would be vaguely worthwhile. However, it doesn't fit the speedy deletion criteria and I find the bureaucracy surrounding the deletion process pretty evil in general, so personally, I can't be arsed. Deletion is a harsh measure of questionable technical worth, and as page histories aren't picked up by search engines and such, blanking would be sufficient; I'd find it better if Wikipedia had some kind of a rule that would allow people to go out and blank this kind of off-topic garbage off of user pages of editors who clearly aren't fixing it themselves, but unfortunately (last I checked) user pages are still considered somewhat of a space of self-expression so dramatic changes like that should be discussed with the community (read: subjected to bureaucracy).

I should, at some point, probably look at the actual series of events surrounding the deletion of his biography and see if there are interesting details there. No promises yet though.

EDIT:
The user page appears to be considerably smaller than I remembered. In 2011, Belch nuked much of the stuff that's now in scratchpad wikia, but left a lot of it. About a year ago, someone apparently stumbled on the page and mopped up even more of off-topic stuff. Good!

EDIT 2:
Oh the irony.

Sweet currently lives in the [[Missouri Bootheel]] with his family, the pastoral setting which inspires his [[fiction|work]].

Sweet probably meant that he writes fiction for work, but as the fine investigations in this thread have shown, a lot of Sweet's work is indeed fiction.

 

[DrJonesHat]

Exceptionally nice find, Absinthe!

No one would be surprised if Mr. Sweet were arrested for failure to appear in his home county.

But he lives in Mississippi County.

Craighead County is the location of Arkansas State University. And the cops don't come and arrest you if it's a civil case, so criminal charges were involved. Why was Mr. Sweet arrested and transported to the Craighead County jail in 2014? (Or, if the warrants are still current, what charges are involved in the case he decided not to show up for?) What the hell has he been up to that's so heinous that not even Jonathan Mack Sweet will brag about it on the Internet?

Edit to add: Until evidence to the contrary surfaces, I'm going to assume that Mr. Sweet either somehow managed to appear on the ASU campus, from which he is banned, or that he started sending threatening emails to someone at the university. He boasts about having contacted the superiors of his former roommate not too long ago and accusing him of procuring underage girls. I wonder if that could have led to charges being filed.

I see that there's a phone number you can call to inquire about the warrants listed. I wonder if they'd mention on the phone what charges he either faced or is facing.

I strongly suspect you are correct about Sweet violating his ban from ASU. He could have been arrested for trespassing, and then just didn't bother to get his ass back to the Craighead County courthouse for the hearing. I do wonder about his harassment of his former roommate, if he did get this person fired as Sweet seems to suggest, I suspect a civil suit would have been the more likely outcome rather than criminal charges. I supposed he might have gotten nailed for some form of harassment or stalking. I wonder how much money Sweet's 17-year campaign of harassment has cost his family. One could speculate that at some point, they might get sick of bailing him out (figuratively and literally) and boot him out. Since he has not mentioned other family or friends, he'd be on the street at that point. He's so helpless, I don't see him lasting very long.

 

[Dr. Merkwurdichliebe]

I do wonder about his harassment of his former roommate, if he did get this person fired as Sweet seems to suggest, I suspect a civil suit would have been the more likely outcome rather than criminal charges. I supposed he might have gotten nailed for some form of harassment or stalking.

Arkansas does have a criminal statute that would cover Mr. Sweet's claim to have contacted his former roommate's bosses.

Chapter 71 - Riots, Disorderly Conduct, Etc
Subchapter 2 - Offenses Generally
§ 5-71-209 - Harassing communications.
5-71-209. Harassing communications.

(a) A person commits the offense of harassing communications if, with the purpose to harass, annoy, or alarm another person, the person:

(1) Communicates with a person, anonymously or otherwise, by telephone, telegraph, mail, or any other form of written communication, in a manner likely to harass, annoy, or cause alarm;

. . .

(c) Harassing communications is a Class A misdemeanor.

If Mr. Sweet actually did what he claims, I suspect that the long-suffering folks at ASU may have finally pressed criminal charges.

 

[DrJonesHat]

Arkansas does have a criminal statute that would cover Mr. Sweet's claim to have contacted his former roommate's bosses.

Chapter 71 - Riots, Disorderly Conduct, Etc
Subchapter 2 - Offenses Generally
§ 5-71-209 - Harassing communications.
5-71-209. Harassing communications.

(a) A person commits the offense of harassing communications if, with the purpose to harass, annoy, or alarm another person, the person:

(1) Communicates with a person, anonymously or otherwise, by telephone, telegraph, mail, or any other form of written communication, in a manner likely to harass, annoy, or cause alarm;

. . .

(c) Harassing communications is a Class A misdemeanor.

If Mr. Sweet actually did what he claims, I suspect that the long-suffering folks at ASU may have finally pressed criminal charges.

That could have done it. Wonder why he no-showed at his hearing? Surely his mother knew that skipping the hearing would be more costly than hauling his ass to Jonesboro. Whatever the inital offense was, I wonder if he had to be bailed out for that or if they let him go on his own recognizance. On further reflection, Sweet is unemployed (and unemployable) and his family is poor, so perhaps his former roomie didn't see any point in filing a libel suit if he did indeed lose his job because of Sweet's blatantly false allegations. In his position, I still would have filed and agreed to settle for a written apology and a written statement indicating Sweet was lying.

 

[Ruin]

That could have done it. Wonder why he no-showed at his hearing? Surely his mother knew that skipping the hearing would be more costly than hauling his ass to Jonesboro. Whatever the inital offense was, I wonder if he had to be bailed out for that or if they let him go on his own recognizance.

Sweets strikes me as the sort of guy who believes himself to be above the laws written by puny mortals.

 

[melty]

I strongly suspect you are correct about Sweet violating his ban from ASU. He could have been arrested for trespassing, and then just didn't bother to get his ass back to the Craighead County courthouse for the hearing. I do wonder about his harassment of his former roommate, if he did get this person fired as Sweet seems to suggest, I suspect a civil suit would have been the more likely outcome rather than criminal charges. I supposed he might have gotten nailed for some form of harassment or stalking. I wonder how much money Sweet's 17-year campaign of harassment has cost his family. One could speculate that at some point, they might get sick of bailing him out (figuratively and literally) and boot him out. Since he has not mentioned other family or friends, he'd be on the street at that point. He's so helpless, I don't see him lasting very long.

He already collects cans. So there is that.

Sweets strikes me as the sort of guy who believes himself to be above the laws written by puny mortals.

Laws are all part of The Liberal Conspiracy (tm)