NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A new day brings new stories from Congressman Andy Ogles as he attempts to explain away a controversial GoFundMe drive.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates first revealed how the Maury County Republican raked in tens of thousands of dollars following the loss of a child.
It was supposed to go for a children's burial garden, but that never happened.
Instead of providing NewsChannel 5 with evidence of what he did with the money in advance of a story being published, Ogles waited until after the story broke, then he went on the attack with a statement that, in some cases, came up with brand new explanations.
Further investigation has now discovered that, contrary to Ogles' claims that the nearly $25,000 given by donors were not enough to fulfill his dream, he could have purchased burial plots for needy families for $1,200 each, and two cemeteries say they were willing to work with him.
The questions revolve around a 2014 GoFundMe where Ogles used a photo of his stillborn baby to collect money for what he called Lincoln’s Place.
It was supposed to be a children's "burial garden" that would "create a place for Lincoln's new play friends," "a life-size statue of Jesus watching over the children," along with "benches for families to sit while surrounded by flowers."
So what did he do with the money?
NewsChannel 5 Investigates had reached out to Ogles' office for comment and approached the congressman as he left a lunch meeting.
We told him, "Congressman, this doesn't have to be a story if you just offer some evidence it went for a good cause."
Ogles later put out the statement, portraying himself as a victim.
“I knew politics could be ruthless, but I never expected it to sink to such disgusting lows as to have a reporter calling around to my close friends asking about the death and burial site of our beloved son, Lincoln," the statement read.
That claim is false.
All the donors with whom NewsChannel 5 spoke reached out to us, we didn't call them.
The congressman is just making this up.
Back in 2015, when The Tennessean followed up on what happened with the money, Ogles blamed government bureaucracy for the failure to create a children's burial garden.
"What we found over the past year as we have been going through this process is that burials are heavily regulated," he claimed.
In fact, there's no evidence that any government regulation would prevent burial plots from being purchased for charitable purposes.
So in his latest statement, Ogles comes up with a new story: "What we raised wasn't enough for our original goal."
Which made us want to know: what was the original goal?
According to a Facebook post we found, Ogles told donors that he wanted to raise enough money to purchase 20 burial sites that could be donated to families who lose their children.
NewsChannel 5 Investigates checked with the cemetery where the Ogles child is buried and, in 2014, plots were selling for $1,200 each — meaning Ogles had enough money to buy 19 plots, almost enough for 20.
Cemetery manager William Puckett said he offered to work with the family to make their dream come true.
"We could have started out with what was reasonable and worked up from there," Puckett told NewsChannel 5 Investigates.
However, he said, Andy Ogles never returned to work out the plan.
Funeral director Pam Stephens with Williamson Memorial Gardens said "there is absolutely no cemetery, given space available, that would not have worked with them."
"Back at that time, we could have helped them do something, but they never came back to us," she added.
Still, the embattled congressman, who has made up stories about his resume, now asks people to trust him and his new story that "the purpose evolved from a memorial to direct financial support for families covering the cost of funeral expenses and other needs for their children as opportunities to help arose."
Ogles has not provided any evidence that what he is saying is true.
Following the release of that statement, NewsChannel 5 texted Ogles reminding him that we welcomed the chance to see his receipts, to let him show that the money people gave him out of sympathy really did go for a good cause.
We never heard back.
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Do you have information that would help me with my investigation? Send me your tips: phil.williams@newschannel5.com
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