County Officials Call Talk of FBI Reward ‘a Joke’

San Diego County officials, caretakers to a multimillion-dollar annual budget, said Wednesday that they are not losing any sleep over a disputed $25,000 FBI reward for tracking down one of the nation’s most sought-after criminals.

Officials said the idea to claim the reward for identifying Leo Joseph Koury--who died June 17 at a local hospital under an assumed name--was never serious and has been blown out of proportion by the media.

“It was a joke,” said county spokesman Bob Lerner. “It’s something that was jokingly kicked around at our office that the press took and just ran with.”

Reacting to press inquiries, FBI officials in Richmond, Va., on Wednesday said they wouldn’t give the reward to the county because they want the Top 10 list fugitives alive, not dead, according to an Associated Press report.

“The reward was offered for information leading to his arrest. I don’t think a reward will be paid for information that led us to learn of his passing,” said Special Agent Wil Garrett of the bureau’s Richmond office, where Koury was wanted for two separate contract killings.

In recent days, press reports have detailed the role played by San Diego Deputy Public Administrator Susan Graves, whose office seeks ownership for the effects of people who die with no apparent survivors, in the discovery of Koury’s actual identity.

Koury, who reportedly left his wife and children 12 years ago with $1 million in cash in the trunk of his car, died June 17 at Villa View Community Hospital--under the assumed name of Bill Biddle.

County Public Administrator-Public Guardian Barbara Baker reported to the county’s public affair’s office that Graves had deciphered Koury’s real identity and that federal authorities had been notified.

“That’s when this thing got out of hand,” Lerner said. “Barbara came by my office to tell me the story of the identification and I jokingly asked ‘Is there a reward?’ When we found out there was, I asked her if she was going to claim it, she said ‘Maybe we will.’ ”

Baker was in Detroit on business and could not be reached for comment.

She was quoted in the Associated Press, however, as saying: “We clearly saved (the FBI) money they would have spent looking for the individual. . . . You don’t get what you don’t ask for.”

A worker in the county’s public affairs office said Baker might have jokingly considered the reward. “She didn’t even know if she would get it or whether it would got to the county,” the worker said. “She’s a sweet lady. She wouldn’t make waves.”

Lerner agreed. “Barbara has talked to the FBI just about every day since the body was discovered and not once has she brought it up,” he said. “Sometime, she may possibly make an inquiry about the money but we’re not going to write any formal letter.”

Ron Orrantia, a spokesman for the FBI in San Diego, said the matter was being handled by the bureau’s Richmond office and said he had no comment.