North Texas Crime Stoppers is 'ripe' for waste, fraud and abuse, expert says

Many were outraged after FOX 4 reported that North Texas Crime Stoppers initially refused to give a reward to a couple who helped police catch a wanted fugitive.

The reason: the couple called 911, instead of the Crime Stoppers hotline.

Now, a FOX 4 investigation has discovered that the North Texas Crime Stoppers organization is not keeping track of basic information about how reward money is being distributed.

In the four months since our initial report, we've learned that North Texas Crime Stoppers is unable to show us any of the crimes solved or arrests made as a result of tips to their hotline.

FOX 4's investigation began in June, after a Dallas couple helped police capture a wanted fugitive.

Dallas police were out of leads and desperate to find a man who they say kidnapped and sexually assaulted a 7-year-old girl.

Thankfully, a Dallas couple was in the right place at the right time.

Briana and Kenyatta Jordan spotted Leonard Neal at a bus stop and immediately called 911.

As a result of their actions, police arrested Neal, taking him off North Texas streets.

The Jordans said when they called North Texas Crime Stoppers they were told they were not eligible.

"We dialed 911 instead of Crime Stoppers, we are not able to get the reward," Briana Jordan told FOX 4 at the time.

With a case that shined a spotlight on a glaring flaw with the system, FOX 4 began asking questions of North Texas Crime Stoppers.

It is one of approximately 150 certified community Crime Stoppers programs in the State of Texas.

David Dean is the chair of the organization that runs it, the North Texas Crime Commission.

Dean would not speak to FOX 4 on camera. We did talk on the phone in July.

"What they should have done, if interested in receiving a financial reward, is call Crime Stoppers and follow the procedures," Dean told FOX 4.

But that would have meant not calling 911 first. Instead, taking the time to find the Crime Stoppers Hotline number, which could have led to Neal getting away.

Keith Owens, a former federal investigator with the Department of Homeland Security and now a distinguished lecturer at UT Arlington, said the program's rules are flawed.

[REPORTER: "Would it be a bad message: If you call 911 you are not eligible?"]

"That would be a terrible message, because, at that point, you will have a reduction in phone calls," said Owens.

Dean went on to reveal North Texas Crime Stoppers' system makes it difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to ever know if their tip led to an arrest. He even asked FOX 4 for advice.

"I have no idea if others were calling at the same time. What would your recommendation be in that case?" asked Dean.

[REPORTER: "Don't you work hand-in-hand with police, and can ask, ‘Were these the only people calling?’"] 

"We encourage people all the time to call 911, call police. As far as eligibility for these funds, there is a certain way for it to occur," Dean replied.

FOX 4 asked if that means North Texas Crime Stoppers' message is to call the hotline before 911 to be eligible. Dean's answer revealed deceptive messaging.

"Call 911 always first, no exceptions," said Dean.

A week after our story aired in July and after a FOX 4 viewer came forward to provide the reward amount on his own, North Texas Crime Stoppers did pay the Jordans their reward, but the process raised serious questions.

"The North Texas Crime Commission, the NTCC, the Dallas branch of Crime Stoppers, they need a complete overhaul," a tipster told FOX 4.

While FOX 4 was asking questions, the tipster, who asked to remain anonymous, approached us about a concerning situation he encountered when he provided a tip.

In March 2021, we reported on a fugitive wanted for several assaults.

The tipster saw an image posted on Instagram by FOX4Terry.

North Texas Crime Stoppers offered up to $5,000 for information leading to the fugitive's arrest.

"[I] looked at it again, and thought, this has to be who I think it is," he said.

He went to the North Texas Crime Stoppers' website and left a thorough tip, stating he believed the image was that of then-33-year-old Darnell Green.

"Through 2021, I checked back about 3 to 4 times online and the tip was just sitting. It looked like the day I submitted it," he said.

Then, this summer, he learned from a friend that Green was in jail.

The timing of Green's initial arrest was shortly after he had submitted his tip.

"They go look and say, yeah, he's in jail, but we don't think it's for your tip," he recalled being told.

After multiple follow-ups, he finally got an update.

"The detective has reached out to us, and your tip is what led to his arrest," he said he was told.

North Texas Crime Stoppers then provided the reward.

[REPORTER: "Does it feel like the system is broken?"]

"Definitely," he replied. "They advertised themeselves as they're taking crime off the streets, you know, preventing crime, getting violent crime off the streets, but really, I feel like they are […] trying their best not to reward it out."

North Texas Crime Stoppers is funded through Dallas, Collin and Grayson County court fees, which totaled nearly $300,000 last year.

[REPORTER: "If you hadn't inadvertently found out that the person you turned in had been arrested, would you have ever gotten your reward?"]

"I would have never gotten it," the tipster said.

David Dean's wife, Jean Dean, is the chair of the North Texas Crime Stoppers Committee, the committee that decides which tips should receive rewards.

She declined to talk to FOX 4.

Instead, board member Richard Roper, a white collar crimes criminal defense attorney, agreed to talk with us at his office, but only off camera.

Roper brought in Mike Pappas, a private security manager for a former bank CEO.

Pappas is on the North Texas Crime Stoppers Committee and is an unpaid volunteer. He is responsible for submitting records to the state.

"We have not met personally in the room like this, since pre-COVID," said Pappas. "We started meeting by Zoom, and then we would vote later on, on how much to award if there is something needed, you know, to be rewarded."

Pappas was unable to immediately name all the committee members.

"You know what? I'm going to have to apologize," he said. "I don't really know all of them by name because we don't meet personally anymore."

We asked retired investigator Keith Owens what he thinks of the committee.

[REPORTER: "Does it sound like it is ripe for waste, fraud and abuse?"]

"Yes, absolutely. It is more than ripe, it is bursting at the seams with respect to the non-accountability," Owens replied. "It is not if it is going to happen, it is when it is going to happen."

It has already happened.

In 2012, Dallas police officer Theodora Ross was sentenced to four years in federal prison for embezzling $250,000 in reward money over five years, while she ran the North Texas hotline.

"She started putting in fake tips. So we were voting on people that weren’t really tipsters and that got uncovered," said Pappas.

We brought up Ross' situation to Roper.

"I've either prosecuted or defended embezzlement cases. It's just, the ingenuity of the human mind is boundless," he replied.

FOX 4 asked why David and Jean Dean did not agree to an interview. Roper said he is acting as the "de facto general counsel" for the Crime Commission.

The commission does not have a single paid staff member to help run it.

Instead, it relied upon unpaid volunteers to determine how to allocate the cash rewards to anonymous tipsters.

Roper said they did have a paid employee administrator in the past.

"We’ve thought about trying to build it back up. You know, we didn’t for a while and then the Crime Commission, frankly, you know, wasn't in great shape financially," Roper replied.

An interesting statement. Self-disclosure forms called 990s show the Crime Commission's net assets have doubled recently, from $2.5 million in 2015 to nearly $5 million in 2021.

Pappas did provide FOX 4 with the amounts paid out in rewards in the past nine years.

The average amount was about $83,500, but for the last two years the amount was less than half that much. On average, about $40,600.

Unlike the state's Crime Stoppers branch, with a list of captured fugitives and reward amounts on its website, Pappas was unable to show FOX 4 which cases the rewards were paid for.

"The state would have all those," said Pappas.

But the state did not.

When it comes to even the types of crimes solved, Pappas submitted zeros to the state.

We showed Keith Owens the numbers.

[REPORTER: "Year after year they show zero for all of the categories."]

"This is unacceptable. I worked for Office of Inspector General and our job was to oversee waste fraud and abuse. Based on these numbers, it is a clear red flag to me," Owens said.

We took the concerns to Pappas and Roper.

[REPORTER: "Wouldn't it be a good idea to keep a list of all of the crimes solved thanks to a tip?"]

"You going to pay me? That's a full-time job," Pappas replied. "We need a director."

"Why don't you put that in a question for us," said Roper.

"It's a great question, but she's got to ask the police departments, Richard. We don't keep those records.  I mean, I don't want to lie to her," Pappas replied.

"No, I don't want you to. I think that's a good question," Roper said.

FOX 4 reached out to multiple police departments that work with North Texas Crime Stoppers. Those departments told us they do not keep records regarding North Texas Crime Stoppers tips.

"We don’t record them because no one has ever come to Crime Stoppers and said, what have you done?" Pappas said.

Until now.

"There should be an outside entity that independently audits these people to ensure no one is misappropriating the money or embezzling the money," said Owens.

After our meeting, Pappas did provide FOX 4 with dollar amounts for different crime categories, but it is information that was not submitted to the state and the amounts did not add up to previously released amounts.

Again, North Texas Crime Stoppers is one of the many certified Crime Stoppers programs in the state. It also runs a campus program that did submit categories of crimes solved through tips.

FOX 4 also requested an interview with the board chair for Crime Stoppers USA, the organization that provides certifications for local programs, as well as the regional director for Texas.

Both rejected our requests.