Support Pours In For Saint Paul's Coach After Arrest

After The Rabbit Hole reported the arrest of Saint Paul’s School basketball coach and Alumni Director Monty Fontenot, the response from the community was immediate.

An abundance of support for Fontenot appeared in the comment section of the original story. Numerous people who said they know Fontenot personally spoke highly of his character, while several commenters offered their understanding of the circumstances surrounding the incident.

Those accounts painted a much different picture than what readers might assume from an arrest and a charge of domestic abuse battery alone.

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According to multiple people commenting on the story, the situation involved Fontenot attempting to help his daughter, who has reportedly struggled with drug use and had relapsed. Their accounts described the incident not as an attempt by a father to harm his daughter, but as a difficult family situation involving a parent desperately trying to get his child help.

The Rabbit Hole subsequently heard directly from someone who says they know Fontenot personally and provided additional context about what they say happened.

A Father Trying To Help His Daughter

According to the person who contacted The Rabbit Hole, Fontenot’s daughter has struggled with drug use and had recently relapsed. They said Fontenot was attempting to get his daughter help and into rehabilitation.

The source did not feel comfortable sharing specific details of the incident, explaining that those details were not theirs to tell. However, they said they felt obligated to speak because Fontenot does not use social media and would likely never publicly defend himself against assumptions being made about his arrest.

The source described Fontenot as a loving father who would do anything for his family and said they believe his actions were motivated by an attempt to help his daughter rather than harm her.

“There is so much more to this situation than what an arrest headline can tell you,” the source said.

The source also described Fontenot as extremely straight laced and said he does not drink.

Community Response Tells Another Side

The amount of support following the original article was difficult to ignore.

Rather than comments condemning Fontenot based solely on the charge, numerous people who said they knew him personally defended his character and urged others not to rush to judgment.

Several commenters also described circumstances similar to those subsequently shared directly with The Rabbit Hole: a family dealing with addiction and a father attempting to intervene.

Those comments do not establish exactly what happened, nor do they determine whether an arrest was legally justified. But the consistency of the accounts and the overwhelming response from people claiming personal knowledge of Fontenot gave The Rabbit Hole reason to look deeper into the circumstances rather than allowing a booking record to be the end of the story.

The Reality Of Addiction For Families

The person who contacted The Rabbit Hole said the situation is particularly personal because they have experienced addiction within their own family.

They said they lost a brother to a drug overdose after numerous attempts to get him into rehabilitation and find help.

The source said that experience taught them how desperate and helpless families can feel when someone they love is battling addiction. Parents and family members can find themselves trying to intervene while knowing that another relapse could have devastating consequences.

For the source, that context is essential to understanding what they believe Fontenot and his family were facing.

It also raises a broader and difficult question:

How do we help the people we love who are struggling with drugs without finding ourselves in trouble while desperately trying to save them?

Questions Still Need Official Answers

Fontenot, 60, was booked into the St. Tammany Parish Jail on September 18 on one count of domestic abuse battery and was released the same day after bond was set at $2,500.

The Rabbit Hole has not yet obtained the arrest narrative or probable cause affidavit detailing exactly what law enforcement alleges occurred.

That distinction is important.

An arrest does not establish guilt. Likewise, comments from friends and community members do not independently establish exactly what happened or prove that law enforcement acted improperly.

What those accounts do provide is additional context that was not available when the original arrest was reported.

The Rabbit Hole is working to obtain official documentation regarding the incident. When that information becomes available, we will compare it with the accounts provided by those familiar with the situation and report what the records show.

Our responsibility is not to decide someone’s guilt or innocence based on a booking record or a Facebook comment section.

It is to continue asking questions, gather as much verified information as possible and give readers the complete picture so they can decide for themselves.