Remember the three inmates who escaped from a jail in Orange County, California back in January? They were on the run for about a week before they got caught. And there was a $150,000 reward for anyone who helped catch them. Well, it turns out several people helped, and this week the county’s board of supervisors voted on how to divvy up the money.
Two Target employees who saw them and reported it will each get $15,000. And a guy who called the cops after they stole his van is getting 20 grand. But the remaining $100,000 is going to a 55-year-old guy in San Francisco named Matthew Hay-Chapman, who helped catch two of them, and also happens to be HOMELESS.
He says he’s a huge “news junkie,” so he recognized the van when he saw it parked near a Whole Foods. Then he saw the windows were fogged up, and figured someone might be sleeping in it. Apparently he’s like the Sherlock Holmes of homeless dudes.
Then he saw one of them get out, started walking to a police station to report it, flagged down two cops on the way and they arrested the fugitives.
Matthew found out last month that he might be getting a big reward for it. And he told the local news that if he did, he’d use the money to get back on his feet, and help his children out.
(Here’s his photo.)
