A man is facing a felony charge for allegedly threatening to use physical force against a man who testified at the Crystal Rogers murder trial, according to court records.
Ronald William Bryan, 67, is charged with intimidating a participant in the legal process after he allegedly threatened to assault a man who testified at the murder trial at a food mart in Bardstown, according to an arrest citation. Bryan told police he attended the trial and believed the person he threatened, Thomas “Ritchie” Riggs, provided false testimony, court records show.
Bryan was initially arrested July 21 and booked in the Nelson County Jail. He was indicted Aug. 6, court records show, and ordered to stay away from the victim after posting a $5,000 bond. He is due to appear in court Aug. 21 for an arraignment, according to court records.
Rogers, a 35-year-old mother of five, disappeared from Bardstown around July 3, 2015. Police found her car abandoned on the side of Bluegrass Parkway in Nelson County a few days later with her keys, phone and purse inside. Her body has not been found, and she is presumed dead.
Riggs testified during Brooks Houck and Joseph Lawson’s trial that occurred in late June and early July. He testified that he was Houck’s former realtor and neighbor and that Rogers, who was dating Houck at the time of her disappearance, had been worried Houck would move her out of the house they lived in together.
Houck was convicted of murder as a principal or accomplice and complicity to tampering with physical evidence in July. Lawson’s son, Joseph Lawson, was tried alongside Houck and convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and tampering with physical evidence.
Both are slated for final sentencing Aug. 21.
Contact reporter Killian Baarlaer at kbaarlaer@gannett.com or @bkillian72 on X.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Man charged for alleged intimidation of Brooks Houck trial witness