Show us the reward money - WSFA.com: News Weather and Sports for Montgomery, AL.

Their faces were everywhere and the reward money just kept rising.

A whopping $30,000 for information leading to the arrest of Auburn triple homicide suspect Desmonte Leonard

$10,000 for information leading to the arrest of Lowndes county triple homicide suspect Deandra Lee.

Now many are saying show me the money.

"Oh yes, we pay people," US Marshals Service Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force Supervisory Inspector Scott Sides said.

The US Marshals Service offered $5,000 for info leading to Lee's arrest and $5,000 for Leonard's arrest. Sides says he can only speak for the US Marshals process as other agencies may have a different process.

Sides was on the ground searching for them alongside other inspectors and law enforcement.

"It's a lot of work and we have to vet through those leads to make sure they are viable before we send investigators out," Sides said.

He says hundreds of tips a day were flooding in.

"Numerous sightings and most of the time it was where he was and not where he is," Sides said.

And he says that's the requirement for the US Marshals: you have to have info leading directly to the arrest.

"We will submit that request to our headquarters for a particular amount of money and once we obtain approval, if it's after an arrest. we will set to met the person that provided the information that led directly to that arrest. Depending on the offense, that will determine the amount. And the type of assistance the cooperating individual provided," Sides said.  

A tip lead investigators directly to lee in an apartment in Selma.

"It's cash and we actually have a receipt that the person is given to sign saying they've received the money and we sign that we are actually giving it to them," Sides said.

Leonard turned himself in with the help of his attorney, but Sides says because he willingly turned himself in without the help of US Marshals, no one will be getting their $5,000 reward.

Inspector Sides says up until this point, reward recipients have requested to remain anonymous for safety reasons.

The next step in the process is to send paperwork to the United States Marshals Service in Washington, DC.

Sides says it takes about 30 days for a check to be cut, sent back and then cashed and given to the recipients.

Other agencies also chipped in on the reward amount. In the Leonard case, Auburn University, the City of Montgomery and the ABI kicked in rewards of their own.

And in Lee's case, a private donor also pledged $5,000.

The Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force (GCRFTF) is comprised of state and local law enforcement officers from Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee, who work with Deputy U.S. Marshals to apprehend state and local violent offender and sexual predators. 

The Montgomery Division of the GCRFTF consists of law enforcement officers from the Alabama Bureau of Investigation, Alabama Department of Corrections, Montgomery Police Department, Montgomery County Sheriffs Department, Macon County Sheriffs Department, Alex City Police Department, Alabama Beverage Control Board, Dothan Police Department, Houston County Sheriffs Department, Coffee County Sheriffs Department, and Elmore County Sheriff's Department.

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