Rogers County Residents Fight Christmas Scam With Generosity

The Rogers County Sheriff's Office is investigating a possible holiday scam.

Word of this scam quickly traveled through Facebook, which prompted three women to get together and save the season for dozens of children.

'Twas the week before Christmas and all through Rogers County strangers were handing out gifts.

"We just kind of all got together and said this can't happen to these people cause they were all expecting these presents," organizer Trista Beavers said.

Beavers said a Grinch tried to steal Christmas from a handful of families.

She explains a woman posted a scam on Facebook asking for gifts and donations.

"When people started questioning it, the Facebook just disappeared," she said.

That's when Beavers and two others created their own angel tree.

It started with only helping five families and seven kids and quickly grew to nearly four dozen children.

"I have two little girls myself," Beavers said. "We've had hard times ourselves in the past and had to be on angel trees, so we kind of know what it's like to feel like you're not going to have a Christmas, then people pull through and help you out.

Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton can't release many details about the investigation, but he's not surprised with how citizens responded.

"When we see a tragedy, we see people step in, like these ladies that got involved," Walton said. "They want to see that no one's Christmas did get ruined."

"It makes us feel wonderful and blessed, very, very blessed," recipient Jacob Jarrell said.

Jarrell and his wife weren't sure how they were going to get presents for their four children.

"She's been pregnant and not working," Jarrell said. "Work I do has been kind of slow. It's been kind of rough, but I appreciate everything everybody has done for us."

Even local business women stepped in and gave presents from their shops.

"We realized this happened, kind of sad for our own community to do it," donor Ashley Chapman said. "Either way, I said, ‘You know what? We can give something back to them.' So that's what we worked on."

The sheriff says during this time of the year, it is not uncommon to see scams like this.

He says it is important to always make sure the organization you're donating to is credible.