Houston Crime Stoppers Offers $ 20,000 to Plumber Who Found Money in Lakewood Church Wall
HOUSTON (KIAH) – After no response from Lakewood Church on the money found in the wall recently, Crime Stoppers of Houston are offering the man who found it $ 20,000.
In 2014, Lakewood Church reported the theft of approximately $ 600,000 in cash and checks, and Crime Stoppers of Houston assisted Houston Police, Lakewood and the community in locating those responsible.
At the time, Crime Stoppers of Houston offered a cash reward of up to $ 5,000. Lakewood Church has added an additional $ 20,000 reward giving a potential reward of up to $ 25,000 for person (s) with information leading to identification, charge and / or arrest in the case.
In 2016, Lakewood decided to turn this additional award into a charitable donation to Crime Stoppers of Houston.
On Wednesday, November 10, HPD reported that during a renovation project, a plumber discovered a large sum of money hidden in a wall. Evidence from the recovered checks suggests the discovery of was linked to the March 2014 theft. Police are still investigating.
On Friday, December 3, as more details were revealed, Crime Stoppers CEO Rania Mankarious began speaking to Deputy Director Nichole Christoph, who also discussed the issues with their law enforcement partners. . Mankarious also began asking the Crime Stoppers executive committee if the organization could donate $ 20,000, the amount originally given to Crime Stoppers by Lakewood, the Good Samaritan plumber who made the discovery and returned the money.
On Tuesday, Mankarious received approval to go ahead with the giveaway.
Houston Crime Stoppers is a public safety organization that prides itself on the public safety of all communities. We believe we all need to work together to keep Houston safe and prosperous. In 2014, Lakewood Church gave us $ 20,000 to work on this case. In 2016, they chose to donate these funds to us for operations. Today we are offering the same amount of money to this Good Samaritan and wish him and his family a wonderful holiday season.
Rania Mankarious, CEO of Crime Stoppers
If you have advice regarding an unsolved crime, call 713-222-TIPS or report it online at www.crime-stoppers.org.
