Public reward fund aimed at anyone aiding Texas fugitives

Law enforcement officers are preparing for what could be a violent encounter with the fugitives

In this story: Reward donations are tax deductible Tips and sightings reported Fugitives have small arsenal RELATED STORIES

IRVING, Texas -- Texas police are inviting the public to contribute to a reward fund in an effort to make the amount of money irresistible to those who may be helping the seven escaped prison inmates accused of fatally shooting a police officer in a Christmas Eve robbery during their five weeks on the run.

The reward money doubled to $200,000 over the weekend and has prompted dozens of tips from the public.

CONTACT Anyone with information on the fugitives should call Crime Stoppers Anonymous 1 (800) 737-8143   RESOURCES Read the memo detailing the prison escape (PDF) Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader Profiles of the escapees   INTERACTIVE Interactive map of the Texas manhunt   TRANSCRIPT Early Edition: San Marcos Police Commander Discusses Manhunt for Texas Prison Escapees     MESSAGE BOARD Violence in America

"We hope the high reward money will entice those people who have been assisting them in traveling and hiding," prison spokesman Larry Todd said. "We believe these are the same people who helped them make good on the escape."

Meanwhile, Texas corrections officials say preliminary findings of an investigation of how the seven escaped from the prison near San Antonio, Texas will be released later this week after the Texas Board of Criminal Justice meets in Austin on Thursday. Officials say the investigation is focusing on performance reviews of prison guards on duty at the time of the escape from the Connally Unit.

Board chairman Mac Stringfellow told CNN that the state's 30,000 correctional officers were dedicated and hardworking and usually followed the established procedures.

"But if one of them, for however brief a period of time, does not follow proper procedures, then this sort of thing can happen," said Stringfellow. "And we just are trying to look at the report and determine how it happened so that it doesn't happen again on another unit."

Irving Police Lt. David Tull said donors will be able to get a tax deduction for contributions. The fund has been set up at an Irving, Texas, bank in hopes of getting someone to come forward with information that leads to the capture of the seven, who broke out of a state prison in south Texas.

"We want to try to build up the reward as much as we can," Tull said.

The reward doubled Saturday when $100,000 was offered by Bond Jumper, an online company that seeks to help capture people who fail to appear in court after being charged with a crime.

There's also a possibility that one of the seven escapees might break ranks and offer to help the authorities to avoid the death penalty, said Tory Caeti, a criminology professor at the University of North Texas. But he said that could be a risky proposition.

"Anybody in this group who shows they are breaking away is in trouble," Caeti said.

Tull said a segment on the fugitives broadcast Sunday by "America's Most Wanted" resulted in 130 calls to a command center coordinating the manhunt. Tull said officers were tracking leads and still believe the group may be hiding out in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

In Oklahoma, a reported sighting of the fugitives in Tulsa turned out to be a case of mistaken identity, according to the Oklahoma Highway patrol.

Police say someone called in a report that a group of seven men were seen standing outside a dark-colored car and a white truck late Sunday night about 25 miles south of Tulsa. Authorities say the car was traced to a Texas owner who had sold the vehicle to someone in Tulsa. Police contacted the new owner, who said he had broken down on Oklahoma Highway 16.

The Oklahoma sighting was the latest in a string of sightings across the United States of the men, who, according to police, are heavily armed after stealing weapons and $70,000 from a sporting goods store in suburban Dallas, where the Irving police officer was shot to death.

The fugitives -- two convicted killers, two rapists, a child abuser, a kidnapper and a robber -- escaped from a Texas prison near San Antonio on December 13 after overpowering civilian workers and a guard.

The inmates left the prison with 14 revolvers, a shotgun, a rifle and more than 200 rounds of ammunition. They later amassed dozens more weapons in the sporting goods store robbery on Christmas Eve, during which Irving officer Aubrey Hawkins was shot to death.

CNN Correspondent Charles Zewe and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Reward doubled for dangerous Texas fugitives
January 7, 2001
Memo details audacious, well-planned Texas prison escape
January 6, 2001
Police report sighting of Texas prison escapees
January 5, 2001
Seven escaped convicts still believed to be in Dallas, Texas, area
January 2, 2001
Texas fugitives charged with Radio Shack robbery
December 29, 2000
Police search for escaped convicts linked to officer's death
December 26, 2000

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