Fact Check

Charles Ramsey Reward

Charles Ramsey said that the captive women he helped rescue, and not he, should receive a reward?

Published May 8, 2013

Claim:

Claim:   Charles Ramsey said that the captive women he helped rescue, and not he, should receive a reward.


TRUE


Example:   [Collected via e-mail, May 2013]


Circulating on Facebook that Charles Ramsey, man allegedly responsible for rescue of the 3 women held captive for 10 years in Ohio, when asked by Anderson Cooper if he wanted a reward, pulled out his paycheck and said, "I've got a paycheck. Give those women the reward."



 

Origins:   Charles Ramsey, the Cleveland resident who went "from struggling dishwasher to viral sensation overnight" in May 2013 for his part in facilitating the escape of three young women who had been abducted as teens and held captive in a nearby home for nearly ten years, was interviewed by CNN's Anderson Cooper on 7 May 2013. During that interview, when asked about the rumors of his garnering a reward for his actions, Ramsey proclaimed (if not quite as succinctly as quoted above) that he didn't feel like a hero and that since he already has a paycheck (which he produced from his pocket) any reward should go to the young women he helped rescue:



COOPER: Do you feel like a hero?

RAMSEY: No.

COOPER: Because there's a lot of people, they're saying you're a hero.

RAMSEY: No, no, no. Bro, I'm a Christian, an American, and just like you. We bleed same blood, put our pants on the same way.

COOPER: Has the FBI said anything about a reward or anything? Because there was that — there was a reward for finding [Amanda Berry].

RAMSEY: I tell you what you do, give it to them. Because if folks been following this case since last night, you been following me since last night, you know I got a job anyway. Just went picked it up, paycheck ... So yes, take that reward and give it to — that little girl came out the house and she was crying.


Ramsey's full interview can be viewed here (with his comments about the reward starting at the 6:07 mark):

Last updated:   8 May 2013


Sources:




    Gross, Doug.   "Why the Web Loves Cleveland Hero Charles Ramsey."

    CNN.com.   8 May 2013.

    CNN.com.   "Anderson Cooper Interview with Charles Ramsey."

    7 May 2013.


David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

Article Tags