$57,000 Reward in Ohio Arson
that Killed Mexican Immigrantsby
Ernesto Cienfuegos
La Voz de AztlanCOLUMBUS, Ohio - October 20, 2004 - (ACN) Agencies investigating the September 12 Lincoln Park West arson fire that killed 10 Mexican immigrants from Guanajuato announced rewards totaling up to $57,000 in an effort to generate information and additional leads.
Anyone with any information on the arson fire is asked to call the Columbus Crime Stoppers at (614) 645-8477 or (877) 645-8477. Spanish speaking callers can use either telephone number and speak to an operator fluent in Spanish.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) announced a reward of up to $20,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the fire.
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department also announced rewards totaling up to $30,000, with American Electric Power and RLJ Management Co., owner of Lincoln Park West, each providing $15,000. These rewards will be administered through Crime Stoppers.
These rewards are in addition to the previous reward of up to $7,000 offered by the Blue Ribbon Arson Task Force and Crime Stoppers now making a total of up to $57,000 available to help solve this crime.
“This type of crime cannot and will not be tolerated,” said Christopher P. Sadowski, Special Agent in Charge of ATF’s Columbus Field Division. “Hopefully this reward will bring forward information that can assist us in identifying and prosecuting the individual(s) responsible for this tragedy.”
“We are asking for the help of the community around the Lincoln Park West Apartment Complex, and request that anyone who might have information come forward to help us solve this horrific crime,” said Steve Martin, Chief Deputy of the Franklin County Sheriff’s Department.
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department, the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office and ATF are continuing in their joint effort to bring those responsible to justice.
Yesterday, in an extraordinary 10 hour session of the Mexican Congress, the Lower House passed a resolution urging President Vicente Fox to instruct the Secretary of Foreign Relations, Luis Ernesto Derbez, to send a diplomatic communique to the US Department of State requesting progress reports on the investigations of the above arson fire and on the drowning of three Mexican women in the Rio Grande by two US Border Patrol agents. The session was led by Congresswoman Guadalupe Suárez Ponce of the State of Guanajuato which is the state of origin of the three drowned Mexican women and of the 10 immigrants that died in the Columbus, Ohio arson fire. President Vicente Fox is also from Guanajuato.
The 10 hour congressional session inluded "a minute of silence" in memory of the three drowned women and of the 10 burned immigrants that included an entire family consisting of a mother, father and three babies. La Voz de Aztlan is encouraging our readership to disseminate this article as widely as possible through your own networks. This was one way that five anti-Mexican arsonists were captured and put in jail after they burned a home of a Mexican family in Farmingville, New York on July 5, 2003. The arson was committed soon after the vile vigilante and bigot Glenn Spencer conducted a series of anti-Mexican rallies in the town.
Related La Voz de Aztlan article:Heinous hate murders of undocumented Mexican immigrants on the rise
