BARDSTOWN, Ky (WDRB) - As the search continues for Bardstown resident Crystal Rogers, a website is trying to get people to donate to her family – money the site claims would be used for “prayers.”
Rogers’ family wants nothing to do with it and calls it a scam.
“Someone had shared it on Facebook, and they tagged me in it,” said Crystal’s mom Sherry Ballard. “I knew immediately it was fake and wasn’t real.”
Ballard also knew the ongoing national coverage of her daughter’s disappearance and mysterious shooting death of her husband Tommy could cause bogus sites and pages to pop up.
This latest one appears to be based overseas and asks for visitor's name, email, then a donation.
Ballard says it’s heartbreaking to think someone would try to use those who only want to help her and find answers about Crystal.
“To think someone would take advantage of them it kind of suspects me just a little but that they would do that,” said Ballard.
Another red flag regarding the site’s authenticity is the main photo on the page.
“It had a picture of my daughter and Brooks Houck. Number one I would never put a picture of him with my daughter on there. I know no one in my family would have done that,” said Ballard.
Houck was Rogers’ boyfriend and is the main suspect in her disappearance.
Ballard says as soon as she saw the fake page on Facebook she needed to get the word out and warn others to stay away from it and not donate.
“I've had to deal with stuff like this and I just try to shut it down as soon as I can,” said Ballard.
Ballard says for the last three years since Crystal’s disappearance and since the shooting death of Tommy, she has never asked the public for money.
She is relying on volunteers, prayers, and the community so answers will be found as to what happened to her daughter and husband.
“I am still following leads. I don't ever give up on that. So I feel pretty good about some of that,” said Ballard who is currently planning two more volunteer searches.
She has notified Facebook to try and get notifications about the fake site taken down.
Copyright 2018 WDRB News. All rights reserved.
