Nov 4, 2009 5:52 pm US/Eastern
Man Claims Crime Stoppers Stiffed Him On Reward
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
-
-
Christopher Furlong/Getty Images
A Miami-Dade man who claims he provided police with valuable information to help solve the murder of a lawyer in Plantation has filed a suit against the lawyer's firm and Crime Stoppers because they've refused to pay him the promised reward money.
Wilset Pascal says he's owed more than $250 thousand because he provided police with critical information in the murder of Melissa Britt Lewis in 2008. At the time, Crime Stoppers was offering a reward of up to $1000 from Crime Stoppers and the law firm of Rothstein Rosenfeldt Adler, where Lewis was a partner, was offering a reward of $250 thousand.
According to a lawyer for Crime Stoppers the reward was not paid out in the Lewis case because law enforcement officials did not certify that a tip from Crime Stoppers led police to Lewis' suspected killer Tony Villegas – the estranged husband of Lewis' best friend Debra Villegas. Both Lewis and Debra Villegas worked at the law firm and at the time of the murder, the Villegas were going through a divorce. Police say that Lewis was not involved in the divorce proceedings, but she was helping Debra Villegas get information about writing a will because Debra wanted to be sure her children would be taken care off in case Tony Villegas decided to hurt her and went to jail.
Plantation police say they submitted paperwork several weeks ago about how information from a Crime Stoppers tip helped solve the case. The submission was made after they were contacted by Crime Stoppers in reference to Pascal.
"His (Pascal) information did contribute to our ability to find probable cause to man an arrest. He gave us information on a person we were already looking at, but his information helped us put the case together. If he meets Crime Stoppers criteria, we believe he deserves at least a portion of the reward," said Plantation police Detective Robert Rettig.
"Crime Stoppers passed the buck. Basically they said to go talk to the police. We went to talk to the police and they did confirm he provided valuable information," said Pascal's attorney Clay Roberts.
The lion share of the reward money, $250 thousand, was supposed to come from Scott Rothstein, the Ft. Lauderdale attorney who has recently been accused of running a Ponzi scheme and mishandling hundreds of millions of dollars from an investment business he covertly ran out of his office.
Roberts said when contacted the Rothstein and told them about Crime Stopper's refusal to pay the reward, Rothstein reportedly told him to come by his office and he would write him a check. Roberts said when he went to Rothstein's office for the scheduled meeting the lawyer was a no show. Roberts then filed a complaint in Broward court.
On Wednesday the Crime Stoppers Council of Broward County issued a statement as to why they didn't pay Wilset the reward.
"In this specific case, the Plantation Police Department has not provided any written report indicating that a tip from Crime Stoppers led to the arrest of the suspect responsible for the homicide of Melissa Britt Lewis. The Crime Stoppers board of directors has contacted the Plantation Police Department and they have agreed to review all of their information to determine, to what extent-if any, the Crime Stoppers tip that Wilset Pascal claims to have submitted, led to the arrest."
Until that determination is made Crime Stoppers board of directors is unable to make any determination as to whether is eligible for a reward.
CBS4 reporter Marybel Rodriguez contributed to this report
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. CBS4 news partner The Miami Herald contributed material for this report)
2009 Dolphins Cheerleader Calendar Shoot
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments