The trial for Molly Ottman, an independent reporter who owns and writes the online news site The Mountain Daily Star, has been scheduled for Oct. 5, in Navajo County Superior Court. Ottman is facing felony charges brought by the State of Arizona alleging she falsified evidence during the investigation surrounding the disappearance of Joseph City teenager Jarrett Brooks in July 2023. Ottman is charged by the State of Arizona with two felonies, obstructing a criminal investigation and fraudulent schemes and artifices. The prosecution is being handled by the Navajo County Attorney’s Office.
The case against Ottman stems from events surrounding the search for Jarrett Brooks, who was 16 when he disappeared from his family’s Joseph City home on July 4, 2023. At the time, Ottman was working for Harter Investigations, a private investigative firm hired by the Brooks family to assist in the search.
Ottman became a key source of information for law enforcement during the investigation after she provided screenshots of sexually explicit Reddit posts she claimed were linked to Brian Brooks, Jarrett’s father. The posts allegedly portrayed deviant behavior involving children and were said to have come from a Reddit account called “fireguy2201,” which investigators confirmed belonged to Brooks.
The posts later became the basis for multiple search warrants executed Jan. 3, 2024, including searches of the Brooks family residence, their vehicles, the Joseph City Fire Department where Brian volunteered, the offices of Harter Investigations and the home of James Harter, the owner of the company. Authorities believed at the time that Harter may have had knowledge of the alleged online activity and failed to report it to investigators.
Despite the extensive searches and forensic interviews with the Brooks’ children, there were no disclosures of abuse, and electronic evidence analyzed by Maricopa County officials did not support allegations that the Brooks family had abused their children.
Following those searches, detectives on the case discovered that the posts were in fact associated with a different account named “fireguy2201-,” which included a dash at the end of the username and was determined to be a separate account created by another user.
Investigators served warrants to Reddit, Google and Frontier Communications and traced the Reddit and Gmail accounts used to create the posts to IP addresses connected to Ottman’s residence in Linden. Frontier Communications confirmed the IP addresses used to create the accounts were associated with Ottman.
Ottman’s relationship with her employer had already deteriorated before the investigation shifted toward her. In October 2023, she emailed the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office claiming that Harter was attempting to profit from the search for Jarrett Brooks and described the effort as a “money grab.” Harter later reported receiving numerous complaints about Ottman and terminated her employment Oct. 16, 2023, according to investigative reports.
On May 6, 2025, Ottman was charged and indicted by a Navajo County grand jury two days later. With the trial date set, Deputy County Attorney Patrick Zinicola filed a motion in limine. A motion in limine is a pretrial request asking a judge to decide whether specific evidence can be presented to a jury before the trial begins, often to prevent arguments about evidence from occurring in front of jurors.
In the motion, the county is seeking preapproval to introduce records obtained from Google, Frontier Communications and Reddit. Prosecutors argued that obtaining an early ruling on the evidence would streamline the trial process. “The pretrial ruling will limit sidebars and lengthy arguments outside of the presence of the jury,” the filing states. “Additionally, the pretrial ruling will prevent unnecessary delays.”
Meanwhile, the disappearance of Jarrett Brooks remains unsolved and the case continues to be listed as an active investigation by the Navajo County Sheriff’s Office.
