Sunday, September 26, 2010

Beth Bentley $5,000 reward. Is there $5K?

I have been trying to find out about the paltry $5,000 reward that is offered for information leading to Beth Bentley.

In response to a question about funds raised on the first Facebook site about Beth's being missing, the woman (poser) who writes under the name "Kool Breeze" has written, "the money raised at the fundraiser was to cover the reward money the extra $3000 offered with the $2000 that crimestoppers offered to make it $5000 total, that is why they had the fundraiser, Scott and Beth's friends wanted to help collect the money for the reward and what ever was left would aid in the search for Beth.

"The money that was to be raised by donations to the trust fund was for search and to raise the reward. There was ONLY $140 collected from that."

That isn't the way things were described before the fundraiser at Gus's Roadhouse. The $5,000 reward had already been announced, and I'm sure that followers believed the amount had been funded. Crime Stoppers is probably good for its $2,000; what about the rest?

The "ladies" (and I use that term loosely) were adamant that any money raised at Gus's Roadhouse was to go to Scott Bentley for him to use in any way he saw fit. No doubt a bunch of it was spent on his trip the very next week to Las Vegas. Was that a true search mission?

The $2,000 amount from Crime Stoppers is not a solid $2,000. It's $1,000 from each of two Crime Stoppers' organizations. And it's "up to" $1,000 from each. Based on 2009 pay-outs for tips, Crime Stoppers will pay out well under $1,000, unless the tip is sure-fire golden and leads right to Beth.

So here is what I wonder. If somebody called Crime Stoppers with a tip tomorrow morning, and the police went straight to Beth, is the other $3,000 "in the bank" and available for immediate pay-out?

There have been questions about the amount of the reward, such as 1. Why was/is it only $5,000? and 2. Why hasn't it increased?

No one is going to rat out on a criminal for $5,000, if Beth died back in May. Nor for $10K or $25K or $50K. More? Maybe...

If she is alive somewhere and just in hiding, somebody will say so, since the reward is as high as it will probably ever be, and they might as well just pass Go and collect $5,000.

If no one does, then the Woodstock Police should seriously consider re-classifying the case and stop wasting time by believing it's a Missing Person case.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Gus, I have been "catching up" on this case from Southern Il. via weslueths, FB, Nancy Grace etc. Is it possible that each of the three LE involved are just waiting for the others to become active? Because right now it seems that they are all letting Beth and her family down. The time lost for the discovery of crucial info. can never be gained back! Why don't we see more "Help Me!" from Scott Bentley? I hope Beth doesn't go from "Missing" to "Forgotton", by the LE and Scott Bentley. I am relieved to see that it doesn't seem like concerned people such as yourself will soon forget her. Thank You

Gus said...

Thanks for your comment, Ann.

I guess anything is possible but, if Woodstock PD is the lead agency, it ought to be steering the effort. I hope it is not a case of waiting for another to get with it. Each should be working with what they have and can learn, but Woodstock PD is the mouthpiece and its lips aren't moving.

How do you do CPR on a police department?