Two years after the NBC10 Investigators discovered issues with the city\u2019s crime reward program, the tipster whose case the unit has been following received a payment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI got awarded the money,\u201d they said in an interview this week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The tipster, whose identity we are concealing to protect their identity, got a $20,000 check.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cRelieved, ecstatic,\u201d they said. \u201cIt could have came with a little bit of interest on there.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few years ago, the informant provided Philadelphia Police a tip that led to the arrest — and later conviction of a homicide suspect.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The City has a longstanding $20,0000 reward for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of homicide suspects.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But when we first met the tipster in 2023, we uncovered a problem.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the time, the city did not have a formal way to tell\u00a0people they were denied<\/a>, nor did it have an\u00a0appeals process<\/a>.<\/p>\n The tipster told us then that it had been months since the suspect was convicted of murder and yet, they hadn’t heard anything from the city about the reward.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was being given the runaround up until you got involved,\u201d the tipster said of investigative reporter Claudia Vargas.<\/p>\n One year later, the tipster received a formal reward rejection letter — citing their alleged employment with the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n The letter also had a new process — the option to\u00a0appeal the denial<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis opened up the door for anybody who was denied the money,\u201d they said. \u201cThey’re able to now appeal it.\u201d<\/p>\n It wasn\u2019t until earlier this year that the tipster we spoke with and others were able to make their case before the office of administrative review. That\u2019s the agency now charged with handling appeals in crime reward cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n