Furry stuff » Billy Bob’s Hellscape

An abridged history of Mark’s business ventures

Mark claims to hail from Las Vegas, Nev., though several sources say he’s from Hagerstown, Md. (source screencap).

Mark owned Mac’s Roller Rink in White Post, Va. from 2001 to 2010 (source; screencap). In 2010, a man sued Mark and/or his business for failing to clean a water leak which led to said man breaking a leg. Shortly thereafter, Mark absconded the business, after which it was renamed Midway RollerRama. Litigation against Mark involving Mac’s continued into at least 2024, when he was summoned by the Supreme Court of the State of New York over a contract breach regarding what appears to be real property.

In 2013, Mark moved to Newark. O. and opened Sweet Lovin, LLC, supposedly a smoothie joint at at the Colony Square Mall in Zanesville (source screencap). He left the business for reasons yet to be uncovered. During this time, he was sued by First Federal Leasing and by Betson Baltimore Distributing, both for reasons I have yet to uncover.

Between at least 2014 and 2018 (sources: Care2 petition; Facebook post), Mark operated the Fun City and possibly Retro City arcades at the New Towne Mall in New Philadelphia, O. (source screencap). He left this business for reasons yet to be uncovered.

From at least 2019 to 2023, Mark operated Fun City Arcade at the Huntington Mall (sources: Twitter profile; Instagram post). I don’t yet have details whatsoever on why he left that business, though it could be as simple as finding better money in Billy Bob’s, which, as previously mentioned, he acquired the same year.

Initial conflict & accounts

The first I heard of this debacle (other than seeing the actual cops) was the day after the ordeal, October 19. Early that morning, an acquaintance sent a rather boomer-esque picture-screenshot of the post quoted below. I did some digging and uncovered the following posts and exchanges. For the sake of clarity, I’ve rearranged these posts in what I believe to be chronological order, as opposed to the order in which I discovered them.

First, Jamie Smith posted this accout of the incident, in which she alleges Mark’s employee assaulted a woman (later clarified to be her sister-in-law, Halie Tucker):

Our Daughter’s 5th Birthday Party at Billy Bob’s Wonderland Turned Into a Nightmare

What was supposed to be a fun, memorable day for our daughter quickly turned into something none of us will ever forget for all the wrong reasons.

During the party, a family member was in the bounce house area with her children when an employee made an inappropriate remark about her daughter. She calmly asked to speak with the owner, hoping to resolve the issue. Instead, the owner arrived visibly agitated, immediately became argumentative, and got physically aggressive with her husband. As she tried to step in between them to deescalate, another male employee suddenly ran up and punched her in the face twice, completely unprovoked.

We later learned that this employee has special needs and had been left alone to oversee a room full of children. That in itself is deeply concerning.

What happened next only made things worse. The owner was dismissive, unprofessional, and continued to argue instead of taking responsibility or showing any concern for what had just occurred. He also denied witnessing the altercation, even though he was directly involved in escalating it. Several witnesses, including an unrelated bystander, were disturbed what they saw and gave statements to the police.

The entire situation was traumatic for our family and absolutely ruined our daughter’s birthday. I strongly urge anyone considering hosting an event at Billy Bob’s Wonderland to rethink their decision. No family should experience what we did today.

Anyone who knows our family, knows we are good people. We have never had anything like this happen to us. I am completely mortified and sick to my stomach over this.

**I'm going to edit to add we were told by someone who knows the employee that he was special needs. We don't know that for sure. I just wanted to be as factual as possible.

Jamie Smith on Facebook
(original image)

The comments were laden with testimonials to Mark’s character, especially in his relationship with a minor, as discussed later in this exposé.

Around the same time, presumably shortly after the previous post, Mark posted this account of the incident, in which—opposite to Ms. Smith’s claim—he alleged a military veteran assaulted one of his employees, physically unprovoked:

Last night an unfortunate incident happened at my business between my 17 year old special needs employee and a big man. I was summoned to the bounce house room for an unknown customer complaint. A woman began to yell at me about my employee asking her daughter if she was over 150 pounds. At no time did I threaten or touch anyone nor did anyone touch me. I have been sent numerous screenshots from people making ridiculous comments about the situation. My employee was chased behind the employee counter where he was brutally beaten by the enraged man. He was punched repeatedly and slammed through the display counter onto the floor. I will gladly take a polygraph test to prove what I have stated in this post. This all unfolded because the employee was enforcing the safety rules of the bounce houses per state law, manufacturer regulations, and house rules. The child admitted to being too large to go into the bounce house. My employee was savagely pummeled for it. Now these people are on social media attacking me, my business, and anyone who is suspicious of their story. I repeat, I never threatened anyone or touched anyone in any way. I also didn't run away like a coward. I stepped out of the way as the enraged army vet charged past me swinging his fists at my employee who was running for his life.The police are not looking to charge me with anything. I did nothing wrong but try to explain to the parents about the regulations we are REQUIRED to operate by for the safety of the kids. THEIR KIDS. What they told the police is much different than the story posted on fb. I spoke to a WV ride inspector tonight about the situation and he backs my right for us to ask if patrons are over 150 pounds because the regulations dictate that. They admit and BRAG to severely beating my 17 year old employee after he ran behind the counter to escape. Here are some of their comments admitting to beating my employee So please know the truth before making this mess worse.

Mark Alan Hoffman on Facebook
(original screencap)

At about 3:00 P.M., after Mark had deleted that post, he posted this relatively concise update in which he claimed his employee, whom he alleges was the sole victim of any assault, was in the hospital:

My employee who was attacked and beaten by a man behind the work counter is in the hospital. I will be working with his parents tomorrow to get criminal felony charges filed against this army vet. You can't chase an employee behind the counter and repeatedly pummel a kid who has special needs and never been in a fight. Wtf

Mark Alan Hoffman on Facebook
(original screencap)

At some point after, Ms. Tucker wrote a post which detailed the injuries she received as part of the alleged assault by an employee of Billy Bob’s. Supporting documents show that Ms. Tucker had a collarbone fracture, amongst other issues. While I forgot to screenshot the post itself before it was made private, I downloaded an associated image:

Mark’s arrest

In a blow to Mark’s credibility, he was charged with one count of battery on October 24 in State v. Mark Alan Hoffman. He was arrested on October 31, after which his $5,000 bond was posted and he quickly returned to publicly demeaning his opponents.

On November 5, I learned about the above events through a Facebook post in the Barboursville WV Community 911 group, which I joined with the aim of keeping tabs on this ordeal. I found this particularly strange, given a third someone, “Dave Dartanian”, had posted a third-person account of how Mark had gotten a “protection order” against his opponents. Going back to that post to screenshot it, I discovered it had been deleted, though much of the community continued to clown on the author of said post.

breaking update: an emergency safety protection order has been granted to the owner of billy bobs against the person who pummeled the 17 year old billy bobs employee! apparently the man who beat the employee has been making non stop harassing posts about the owner and contacting the owner in numerous ways. i am assuming that criminal charges against the man will follow, what an interesting development this is

Dave Dartanian on Facebook
(original screencap)

The screencap from which this was sourced indicated that Dave also posted this in Lesage WV 911 and Community News, another Facebook group. Do note that, according to Fun City LLC’s WV SOS registration, Mark lives in Lesage. Dave lives in Norfolk, Va., according to his rather empty profile.

Further down in this document, you’ll see that Ms. Smith refutes the claim that Mark ever got a restraining order of any kind. I failed to find any public record of such an order, though this in itself isn’t unusual.

As of writing, his court hearing is set for January 22, 2026 at 9:00 A.M. I’m excited to see how things play out.

Accusations of libel; full-scale harrassment

After Mark’s arrest, he continuted asserting that his opponents were somehow in trouble with the law, failing to mention that charges were brought against him. Such goodies as: Hey asshole, deputies got some papers to serve on you. You should call them and turn yourself in. and It’s truly amazing just how stupid this fool is. I can't wait to get in that courtroom. (original screencap)

Regardless of who is at fault here, Mark and/or his affiliates are doing themselves a disservice by trying to go after his opponents publicly. Mark is gaining much more publicity than expected—and not the kind I’d want, if I was in this situation.

This stack of seemingly blank papers of “evidence”, posted the same day, gave no credence to his claims thus far:

On November 8, Ms. Smith posted this rebuttal to Mark’s various harassing posts:

Another day, another harassing post made by the owner of Billy Bob’s Wonderland (Mark Alan Hoffman)

As you can see, I never insulted that ‘man’s’ wife.

Also, if you’re a member of the Huntington911 group, just be aware the admin, Marvin Bumpus, sends posts to victims attackers. He is friends with Mark. That in itself shows his character.

Again, just so we are clear- no one has any charges except Mark, and the juvenile. Mark is out on a $5,000 bond for a battery charge and you can look that up for yourself. Magistrate court records are free and public.

There’s been no protection orders served, and we are 99% sure he falsified/forged the papers he took pictures of (revealing my family’s address in the process) my sister and brother in law went to the court house themselves and they were showing no record of a protection order.

His girlfriend, Emily Miller (Atkinson) just turned 18 in May. I have a video of them all over each other in October of 2024 that was taken at Billy Bobs. I have passed that video to the proper people. As much as everything he has done infuriates me, this worries me most of all. He truely is a disgusting human.

The juvenile who attacked my sister in law WAS NOT INJURED! I have pictures of him directly after the incident and 3 days later at school if anyone is interested. We’ve also been told since that he is NOT special needs. Just another attempt from Mark to twist the narrative.

I hate coming to Facebook and publicly addressing this. It is embarrassing, trashy, and I want no part of it. Enough is enough, though. He has consistently harassed our family, posted completely false narratives to defame our family, there are people driving by our home and sitting in front of our house. It’s even been mentioned we are a family of elite’s and that is why everything is being pushed under the rug. Lol (that was actually funny 🤣) He even has some crazy lady tagging Kash Patel in his post. THIS. IS. CRAZY! I never thought I would be dealing with something like this, especially as an adult being stalked and harassed by another adult.

Jamie Smith on Facebook
(original screencap)

After this point, Mark hunkered down and began dishing outright ad hominem arguments. Accompanying these posts were the repeated claims that he had a mountain of “evidence” against his opponents. The following posts date from November 9, though there are far more that I unfortunately didn’t archive:

So much evidence to print out I had to go buy more printer paper!

Mark Alan Hoffman on Facebook
(original screencap)

Aww ... What's wrong little girl, not getting the attention yu seek anymore? Bahaha!!!!! You should stay in your lane.😄😄😄😄

Mark Alan Hoffman on Facebook
(original screencap)

Though Mark and Ms. Smith had both appeared to stop publicly posting about this debacle since, that silence was broken when the latter posted an image of a poorly constructed cease-and-desist letter appearing to be from Mark Hoffman, riddled with mechanical, grammatical and spelling issues:

While comments claim that this letter might be fradulent because it didn’t involve a lawyer, there’s nothing that I can find in the West Virginia Code or relevant policies that assert a cease-and-desist letter be verified or otherwise “official”. However, the “State of West Virginia” at the top might be an issue, as it could be construed as his imitating a government official.

A history of (failed) litigiousness

This isn’t the first time Mark has claimed he would bring or has already brought legal action to his political, business and personal rivals. In fact, he threatens lawsuits to a significant number of people who leave a negative review for his business. The following is in response to a one-star review with no text:

You are using this platform to harass and cause financial harm to my business. Police report has been filed and you have been trespassed from the property. I will not be bullied by a couple of jobless losers who take advantage of everyone and attack those who don't cave in to your bullying. SEE YOU IN COURT.

Billy Bob’s Wonderland on Google Maps
(original screencap)

He’s also claimed that he’s won multiple lawsuits involving counts of libel. I can only assume that Mark’s hubris comes from Mark Alan Hoffman v. Paige Marie Winters Harmon, in which he was awarded compensatory damages for libel (and battery). I can’t find any other examples of him having won a libel case; in fact, others have alleged that his many lawsuits have been dismissed, not won.

So far, aside from the aforementioned case against Ms. Winters Harmon, he’s either filed suit or claimed to do so against at least:

• Nancy Bessozi, for reasons unknown (source screencap)
• Becky Ferrell, for leaving a Google review about his behavior
• Shauna Hampton, who left a Facebook review highlighting Mark’s racism (source screencap)
• Alan Hoffman, for… impersonating him? (source screencap)
• Breanna McCallister, for leaving a one-star Google review with no text
• Dwight van Sickle, for “defamation”: an actual case that was dismissed
• Jamie Smith, for stating the fact Mark was out on bond (source screencap)

The first red flag: devout Trumpism

Especially in a place like West Virginia, it might be difficult to see the difference between a person with a conservative or Republican perspective on the world and someone who’s been pulled into a cult of personality. Mark’s behavior leads me to believe he’s more of the latter. He drives a “Trump Truck” featuring what he calls a “protester plower” (see also this hilarious Facebook post), brings Trump up at seemingly every opportunity, pratically deifies him—and gets featured by Russian propaganda bots.

Mark doesn’t only use his own Facebook profile and even YouTube channel to voice his political opinion. Especially as of late, he’s been virulently defending himself in the name of Trump while hidden behind a business page. It’s certainly something.

I realized he’d been posting through the Billy Bob’s page once I’d left a personal review on Facebook, after which he responded through the company page with mediocre, personal attacks and non-sequitirs about worshipping Trump.

wow you as dumb as you look.

OH and you have a blessed day and TRUMP is your KING!

Best President ever.

Billy Bob's Wonderland on Facebook
(original screencap)

Tones of racism

On multiple occasions, Mark has taken the opportunity to highlight Black people being violent, framing it the same way that many White supremacists insinuate that Black people are inherently more violent than White people. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to screenshot things myself before he made most of his posts private, but I was able to find this particular post in a Facebook review on the Billy Bob’s page pointing out his behavior:

Anti-LGBT sentiment

Mark has voiced his opinion on LGB and trans people multiple times, especially in a Facebook group called “Msnbc news”. He pejoratively frames fellatio as a submissive, homosexual act, especially in reference to “soy boys”, and he uses an array of slurs to refer to trans people. Note that virtually all of his insults and talking points involve Trump.

Shaky rumors about a minor girlfriend

In Ms. Smith’s post refuting Mark’s accusations of libel, she dropped the name of Emily Miller (Atkinson). Though Emily didn’t appear in search results, I was able to find her profile, in which she was tagging Mark and vice versa in photos of each other (source screencap); as well as a news article indicating she’s an employee of Mark’s. I believe this to be the same person seen in the aforementioned video.

According to Mark’s Facebook page, he started a relationship on July 2, 2024 (source screencap). In May 2023, a family member posted a GIF of a birthday cake saying, Happy Birthday Sweet 16 !! We love you ❤️❤️❤️ (source screencap). Furthermore, the aforementioned video was, as previously stated, captured on October 17, 2024.

However, the claim that Emily was underaged at the time her and Mark’s relationship began hinges on the circumstantial evidence of a single Facebook post by a family member. As such, I personally recommend that Mark’s opponents stop repeating said claim until indisputable, concrete evidence is found.

Admitting to it and doubling down

Since this whole fight debacle was brought to the public eye, Mark has started publicly admitting that he’s in a relationship with a young woman. Even ignoring the dubious past and only looking at his present relationship with a teenager, bear in mind that Mark is in his fifties. As with most of this document, this is not a legal judgment, but instead a moral one.

Mark has attempted to retcon his relationship as being unambiguously legal by saying Emily is in her “second year of college” (original screencap). This is demonstrably false, as Emily graduated Cabell Midland in 2025, and appears in the yearbook as Emily Atkinson (source video).

I’m inclined to argue that Mark fully knows the societal “wrongness” of his relationship, as he’s been sharing various forms of age gap apologetics from “alpha male”-type accounts, as well as repeatedly highlighting the fact that she’s currently “legally aged” (original screencap) (as if it makes a difference).