MONTREAL - Mega-popular talk show host Oprah Winfrey may personally deliver a reward to the informant or informants who turned in Richard Goldberg, an American on the FBI's Most Wanted List.
The 61-year-old American, who fled to Canada in 2001, was arrested by Montreal police last weekend in his suburban apartment and offered no resistance.
Goldberg was accused of engaging in sex acts with young girls at his home in Long Beach, Calif.
Winfrey's Child Predator Watch List on her Internet site promises a reward for information leading to the arrest and capture of any of the Most Wanted who are listed.
Informants are urged to contact their local FBI office.
The website says Winfrey will personally give a US $100,000 cash reward and it may be take place on her popular TV show.
"I plan to work with law enforcement officials and if they tell me that one of you turned in one of these fugitives that we are exposing today, and that information leads to the capture and arrest of one of these men, I will personally give a $100,000 cash reward,'' Winfrey says on her Internet site.
A spokeswoman for the show, who would only identify herself as Angela, said Tuesday she was waiting to get more particulars about the case.
"I am familiar with the fact that Richard Goldberg was captured,'' the spokeswoman said.
"At this point we're waiting for authorities to tell us which person or persons gave the tip that led to his capture,'' she said from Chicago, the home of Winfrey's Harpo Productions.
"It depends on what authorities tell us as to what led to the capture. Each case is individual.''
Jeffrey Boro, Goldberg's lawyer, said in an interview he was aware somebody in Montreal gave up his client.
"I'm aware of the reward and the police are in possession of the name or names of the people who are responsible for having him arrested,'' he added.
Boro said Goldberg had already been in touch with the U.S. consular office and his lawyer in the U.S. when he was arrested Saturday morning.
"He came to see me with the express purpose of negotiating his return to the United States,'' Boro said.
The lawyer said Goldberg's return may have been "down the road'' because he first wanted to know what he would face when he returned to the U.S.
Boro called it "upsetting'' that his client was turned over to police while he was trying to work out an arrangement.
Goldberg came to him 12 hours before his arrest to start the procedure to turn himself in. <
"It's just unfortunate that I wasn't able to do what I was mandated to do for him because everything happened so quickly.''
Montreal police have started an investigation to see if any other allegations might surface from Goldberg's time in the city.
Immigration officials said there is no evidence of misconduct in Canada so far. The former engineer told immigration authorities that he came to Canada six years ago on his own passport when he was facing charges.
Goldberg, who used the alias Terry Wayne Kearns, will remain in custody until another immigration hearing on Friday as Canadian officials work on sending him back to the United States.
