luckyseven
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RIP, Mark.
A $10,000 reward was paid to a Crime Line tipster the day Mark Ysasaga’s body was discovered in South Lubbock.
The reward, funded in part by the Ysasaga family, was issued three days before the missing Lubbock teen’s body was scientifically identified by the Lubbock County Medical Examiner’s Office, Jim Sexton with the non-profit Crime Line reward tip line confirmed.
The Crime Line tip came less than two months after Lubbock police requested Crime Line increase the reward to $10,000, Sexton said.
“They told me they thought they could get the information we needed if we upped the reward,” he said.
Crime Line reward in Ysasaga murder paid 3 days before body identified
Posted: June 18, 2015 - 7:48pm
snipped
http://www.kcbd.com/story/29356689/...case-led-police-to-body-received-10000-reward
''But today, sources close to the investigation tell us the anonymous tip actually came from Christian Castro, the person of interest arrested in connection with a home invasion just days before the body was discovered - said to be one of the last people to see Mark Ysasaga alive.
We're told that police actually gave Castro the phone and told him to make the anonymous call while he was in custody.
Sources say Castro received the $10,000 reward from Crime Line and was escorted out of town by Lubbock police.''
''Castro was arrested for armed robbery and kidnapping on Friday, June 5. While in custody he was given a phone by police to call Crime Line. By the next day he was released, $10,000 richer and laughing at all of us on social media.''
http://www.kcbd.com/story/29392677/consider-thislpd-mishandled-ysasaga-investigation
Assistant Chief Jerry Brewer will serve as acting chief until a search for a new chief can be completed. Brewer has been with LPD since August 1988.
Earlier this week, Brewer had been put in charge of the investigations department, Lt. Ray Mendoza confirmed Thursday. Brewer replaced James Shavers, a Lubbock assistant chief of police, who was moved from investigations to patrol, Mendoza said.
Shavers was in charge of the department investigating the murder of 15-year-old Mark Anthony Ysasaga, who was reported missing a little over three years ago. A Crime Line tip helped police find the missing teenagers remains earlier this month, but questions about the possibility of a person of interest in the homicide case making the tip have put the investigation under public scrutiny.
Loomis announced Friday afternoon the city would not be issuing any other statements about the decision to demote Ellis.
Jose Simental, 20, appeared before Judge John McClendon in the 137th District Court with his attorneys, Bill Wischkaemper and Matt Morrow, to ask for evidence they believe prosecutors possess relating to the June arrest of 19-year-old Christian Castro...
Morrow also sought information on Crime Line payments awarded in relation to the Ysasaga case. Specifically payments made to Christian Castro, he said...
Brewer said officers failed to book Castro into the Lubbock County Detention Center after investigators interviewed him and failed to bring him before a magistrate judge when they released him. Castros arrest report was also never officially finalized into the LPD records system...
KCBD has obtained the suspension orders given to LPD (former) Assistant Chief James Shavers for his role in the arrest and subsequent release of Christian Castro.
Those orders show that Shavers misrepresented the truth in the information released regarding Christian Castro's release after providing information leading to the discovery of the body of Mark Anthony Ysasaga...
"James Willis Shavers negotiated the deal that consisted of the charges related to the June 4th home invasion being dropped and Mr. Castro being allowed to make a Crime Line call to ultimately receive a Crime Line reward in exchange for the additional information."
Shavers was suspended for 10 days without pay and two others in the department were reprimanded after an internal police investigation found policy violations and procedural errors in the high-profile Ysasaga case.
Then interim-Lubbock police Chief Jerry Brewer announced the suspensions during a news conference in August about the internal affairs investigation relating to Castros arrest and subsequent recovery of Ysasagas body in June.
Jose Angel Simental, 21, pleaded guilty Friday to tampering with evidence related to the murder case of Mark Anthony Ysasaga.
A photojournalist in the courtroom was trying to get answers to see if the tampering charge would replace the murder charge. It not was clear in the proceedings if that's how the case would proceed.
Criminal District Attorney Matt Powell refused to provide a our photojournalist with an update on the status of the murder charge...
Simental was not yet sentenced.