McCollough pens letter from Shannon Co. Jail

Robin McCollough has taken the opportunity to tell her side of the story. In response to a routine request for comment, McCollough responded with a lengthy letter written from her Shannon County jail cell. Hand-delivered by McCollough’s husband and granddaughter to the news office in Willow Springs, the letter reveals how the accused views the way her case is being discussed online. 

McCollough has been in custody since June 21. 

 

“You asked to hear my side of the story. I was not going to do this, but since the Shannon County Sheriff Dept. is making public ‘Facebook posts’ containing a variety of lies, I figured I would tell my side of the story -- which is bad enough as it is. The so-called evidence had been greatly distorted,” reads the letter dated July 28.

 

In June, the Shannon County Sheriff’s Office announced McCollough’s arrest, and alongside McCollugh’s mugshot was a picture showing bundles of cash next to a state-issued ID with the defendant’s photo. 

 

“A total of $96,225.00 has been seized in connection with this case,” said the Sheriff’s release on June 23. 

 

McCollough’s letter describes resisting temptation for a while before taking money bags from a safe in the home where she was employed as a caregiver, but denies other accusations from law enforcement that were subsequently reported by Howell County News. 

 

“I could see the safe was open some. I became full of panic and fear, as the devil would have it. I did become full of fear, confusion, regression…I opened the door a little more an hour later, saw several bags of money, and I took out 3, a red, green, blackish purple one kind of like faded maroon. That is all I took, and nothing else… That is the only time I was ever in the safe,” reads the letter.

As previously reported by the News, the money was discovered missing on June 13, and the reporting parties say they left a note in the safe warning of legal consequences. When they checked the safe again on June 17, the note was gone. 

 

McCollough protests that she was only in the safe once. 

 

“I never used any of the money for 3 weeks. A few weeks later I took one envelope out and used some to put a down payment on a used truck at a car place. Then a few days later, I took another envelope out of the bag and used it. After nothing had been said for all this time, after the first week of June, I took the 3 bags out of the house and went to a storage place that I had, and took the money of two bags, the purplish, and the red one, and counted to make sure what the bag said on the outside was correct. I put $50,000 in one spot inside a pan with a lid, and the other one also inside a tin, and inside a crockpot a few feet away from each other, and only used on the green bag,” reads the letter.

 

The accused says law enforcement should have found $100,000 because that’s what she hid. The last time she counted the stolen cash, reportedly intending to return it, there were two bags each containing $50,000. McCollough says she finds it suspicious that law enforcement reported finding only ninety-six thousand dollars. The defendant says she provided a map of the money she hid to Shannon County deputies to help them find it all. 

 

As previously reported by the News, probable cause statement makes no mention of a search of McCollough’s home or property of this recovered cash. The bundles pictured with the Sheriff’s Office’s initial announcement are presumably labeled with their amount and location of discovery. 

 

“I know what I did was awful, and it was the stupid dumbest thing I have ever done. This is a disgrace to my family and friends and myself,” the letter continues. “I know God has forgiven me. I have to learn to forgive myself, and I ask for forgiveness from the family, and my family, and friends. 

 

The lies, and untruths are really something…There is some really shady stuff involved in this, and I was only in the safe that one time. I never opened the safe ever. It was already open, and I have never, ever given anyone extra medicine.”

 

The victim’s family accused McCollough of drugging the victim, an elderly Parkinson’s patient, with extra doses of his own medicine.

 

The letter continues, “People will believe what they want, and some who are supposed to be ‘legal,’ and for Christians are something the worst offenders of gossip and lies.

 

I have admitted to what I did do, but never will I admit to what I have not.”

 

The accused has remained in custody since her arrest. She was formally charged with stealing $25,000 or more, a class C felony, on June 21. Her bond amount remained $25,000, cash only, despite a bond reduction hearing on June 24. Online court records show that her bond will remain as originally set because, “the state intends to file more charges.” Her case is set for a preliminary hearing on September 9. 

 

No additional charges have been filed against her.

 

Quotes attributed to McCollough have been edited for punctuation and spelling, but otherwise unchanged. Enclosed with the letter was a note granting permission to print it in whole or in part, and a request to deliver a copy to Shannon County Commissioner Herman Kelly. The News emailed a copy to Commissioner Kelly the same day as received.