More than 400 tips came in to the New York Police Department’s Crime Stoppers tip line during the five-day search for a masked gunman who shot dead Brian Thompson, CEO of UnitedHealthcare last week.
NYPD officials said about 30 of those tips were useful as information about the gunman’s movements before and after the Dec. 4 shooting. But it wasn’t until a 911 call came in on Monday from a McDonald’s employee in Altoona, Pennsylvania, that police focused on their suspect. The FBI and the Crime Stoppers program have offered up to $60,000 to anyone with a tip that leads to a break in the case.
Police and prosecutors acted quickly arrest and charge Luigi Mangione, 26, but it may be some time before the McDonald’s tipster receives a financial reward for his help in the case. Additionally, the employee may not take home the full $60,000 after paying taxes on the award. And if other tipsters played a role in leading police to Mangione, they would also be eligible for a cash reward, which could be drawn from the same pot of money.
Exactly who will receive the reward or part of it is still being determined, officials said. In fact, the federal and local rewards programs operate under different rules. However, both have built in leeway to offer multiple rewards of different amounts based on the outcome of a tip.
How does someone qualify for a reward?
The FBI rewards program, which offered a reward of up to $50,000 in this case, requires that a tip or information lead to an arrest and conviction.
Phone calls and emails to the FBI press office requesting details about the specific rewards program’s process were not returned, but websites for various rewards offered by the agency outline similar processes. Someone who tips must be nominated, usually by a federal investigative agency. A board then reviews the tip and its role in the investigation, and decides whether to award the full amount.
NYPD Crime Stoppers typically offers up to $3,500 for information leading to an arrest and indictment. In this case, the NYPD Detective Bureau increased the amount to $10,000, and his share requires a conviction.
“The public’s help is essential to solving crimes and keeping our communities safe,” the Police Foundation board said in a statement Wednesday. “The person in Pennsylvania who submitted a tip is eligible for the reward.”
The McDonald’s employee called 911, who took down a phone number and usually a name. Tipsters who call the Crime Stoppers line remain anonymous. The program promises never to track cell phone numbers or capture information about callers, but instead gives them a unique identification number that they can use to check the status of the case and the likelihood of a reward.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny will review which tip or tips played a significant role in cracking the case in determining how to allocate the detective bureau’s reward funds, police officials said Wednesday.
30 different tips were useful
Most rewards require a conviction. Given the nature of the murder charges and the many jurisdictions involved, it could take a year or more for a trial to take place.
For the $3,500 from Crime Stoppers, the board could decide to issue reward money after the charges are completed. Both the FBI and Crime Stoppers have boards that review tips and determine which tips substantially helped a case. Boards have discretion to determine how much money a tip earns.
The Crime Stoppers board has the leeway to split a reward between tips or determine the maximum amount on a case-by-case basis. NYPD officials did not specify how each of the 30 tips it said were deemed helpful helped the case, but it is unlikely that each tipster would receive the highest amount offered.
The police foundation and the FBI do not discuss individual cases or disclose how much money they award to individual tipsters. Similarly, the Crime Stoppers program does not release such details in an effort to protect the anonymity of tipsters.
