I'm so sorry. Let's start there.
The back story: a reader left a comment months ago about a tweet from someone who wanted MckMama to retweet prayers for her brother. Readers here felt badly for the sister, who shared her story on MWOP. I reached out to the sister, Elisabeth, and offered to put a picture up of her brother in hopes it would help raise money for his expenses after a serious stroke.
I vetted the story to an extent. I called the apartment complex and the physical therapy office to confirm he was a patient there. He was. Since Elisabeth offered ways to donate money to companies that were not direct contributions to her account, I put the picture up.
Here we are, months later, and we found out yesterday that Elisabeth is actually Elizabeth and has ties to MckMama and April Rose. Chris is indeed a stroke victim, but he's also a convicted sex offender. On top of that, they're not related.
I was extremely pissed off. Why would someone lie about this? Why lie at all? I would have donated money if I had known they were friends and not related. Why the hell would you lie about that?
As for the sex offender part, I don't have much to say, but I think plenty about it. It's beyond disappointing and I hate that anyone had to find out this way.
The money did go to a man who suffered a serious stroke and was in need of financial help. At least he wasn't a blow up doll, right?
Again, I'm sorry. I trusted someone and was duped. It felt pretty shitty and it will be a while before I take anything online at face value again. If you donated money, Elizabeth should be returning it to you. If you have not heard from her in a month, please leave me a comment and I will send you any contact information I can find on her.
