A San Francisco man spotted Hossein Nayeri and Jonathan Tieu on Jan. 28, days after they staged a brazen escape from an Orange County jail.
A homeless San Francisco man is getting a hefty payday after helping nab two of three prisoners who brazenly busted out of an Orange County jail early this year.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors has awarded Matthew Hay-Chapman $100,000 after he reported spotting fugitives Hossein Nayeri and Jonathan Tieu, CBSLA reports.
Hay-Chapman reportedly recognized their stolen white GMC van from news reports on Jan. 28, about a week after the fugitives--along with Bac Duong--broke out of the Central Men’s Jail in Santa Ana.
Read: Prison Worker Says She Was Sexually Assaulted By Inmate She Helped Escape
"When they told me about the benefits, that didn’t matter,” Chapman told the San Francisco Chronicle in February. “I was just doing the right thing.”
Hay-Chapman told reporters he was living in the city's botanical garden when he spotted the van. “I noticed the windows were all steamed up — real heavy condensation,” he said. Then, "boom, this guy pops out of the van. I had seen him in the news...I said, ‘That’s the guy — that’s the Iranian escapee!'"
Read: All 3 Calif. Fugitives Now in Custody One Week After Daring Escape
Nayeri and Tieu were subsequently arrested. Duong had turned himself in the day before.
The Orange County reward was $150,000, part of which will also go to two Target employees, who spotted the fugitives buying cell phones at their store, and a man whose van was stolen by the fugitives.
The Target employees will each receive $15,000. The van owner will get $20,000.
Watch: Why Seven Innocent People Volunteered to Attend Prison for 60 Days
