Denver Metro Crime Stoppers will award a total of $50,000 to at least two confidential informants who phoned in tips that led to the arrest of Raul Gomez-Garcia for the killing of Denver police Detective Donnie Young, the board’s president said late Wednesday.
But Gomez-Garcia’s grandmother, Florencia Castañeda Rodriguez, will not receive any of that reward money, board president Larry Carstensen said.
“Crime Stoppers is not international, and we cannot reward anyone in Mexico for their assistance,” Carstensen said.
Castañeda Rodriguez notified authorities that Gomez-Garcia was hiding out at her home in Mexico and aided in the arrest.
If Castañeda Rodriguez receives any reward, it would come from the Denver Police Department and U.S. Marshals Service, Police Chief Gerry Whitman said late Wednesday. But the decision to reward anyone in Mexico for assisting in the arrest won’t be revealed publicly, he said. He declined to say why.
Whitman said his office would notify the Mexican consulate of any reward given to Gomez-Garcia’s grandmother. Mexican Consul General Juan Marcos Gutierrez-Gonzalez said he could not confirm that Castañeda Rodriguez had received any reward money.
“The Denver police and the U.S. marshal, as far as I know, are giving their best efforts to give recognition for the brave effort by this lady in the Gomez-Garcia case,” he said.
Castañeda Rodriguez could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.
Gomez-Garcia was sentenced Oct. 25 to the maximum sentence of 80 years in prison for killing Young and wounding his partner, Jack Bishop.
The 20-member Metro Denver Crime Stoppers board met Wednesday night at police headquarters to decide on the reward, which could have been as much as $100,000.
Carstensen would not say why the board decided to award half that amount.
“That’s just the amount we decided was appropriate,” he said.
Young and Bishop were shot May 8, 2005, while they worked as security guards at a baptismal party.
Crime Stoppers, which provides a hotline for people to call with information about crimes, regularly offers rewards – most up to $1,000.
Three days after the shooting, the reward for Gomez-Garcia’s capture was $50,000. The next day, the pledges doubled to $100,000, one of the highest rewards offered.
After the shooting, Gomez- Garcia left Denver, went to his mother’s home in Los Angeles and then fled to Culiacán, Mexico, where his paternal grandmother was living.
Castañeda Rodriguez notified authorities of Gomez-Garcia’s location and helped police bait the fugitive into going to a convenience store to purchase a soda. Agents were waiting for him at the store.
Denver police had said the grandmother was not the only informant who aided in his arrest, and Carstensen said there were at least two informants who phoned in tips as to his whereabouts.
Authorities declined to identify them because the Crime Stoppers program assures anonymity to informants.
Staff writer Manny Gonzales can be reached at 303-954-1537 or mgonzales@denverpost.com.
