While law enforcement heaped praise on the actions of the McDonald's restaurant worker who spotted Steve Stephens at their Pennsylvania drive-thru on Tuesday, it remains unclear how much of the $50,000 in reward money they'd be eligible for or if they'd have to share it with the other workers who played a role in alerting state police and attempting to stall Stephens until troopers arrived.
The owner of the restaurant, Tom DuCharme Jr., said an employee working the back drive-thru first made the identification. Then, as Stephen's pulled around, the worker noticed the car was a white Ford Fusion with temporary Ohio tags. She alerted DuCharme who said he and a supervisor replaced the worker at the first window where Stephens was to pick up his food, telling him his fries would take another minute, while the first worker called Pennsylvania State Police.
The reward is not a flat $50,000 but individual rewards that total up to that amount.
Here's how it's laid out:
- $30,000 from the FBI
- $10,000 from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
- $7,500 from the U.S. Marshals Office
- $2,500 from Crimestoppers
Each of those agencies to play a role in determining who did what in the case and how much of the reward money will be dispersed and to whom.
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The agencies aren't saying how that process will work and how long it will take and they likely never will since anonymity is a huge part of the way the award system works. People are more likely to share information for a reward if they feel comfortable they won't be outed.
So, in this case, it will likely take time for the individual agencies to sort out the information.
