Michelle "Jolene" Lakey (Missing Person)

In the late afternoon of August 26th 1986, Michelle "Jolene" Lakey went to visit her sick mother at Mercy Hospital, Scranton. After giving her mother a teddy bear as a get well present the 11 year old left to make the 20 minute walk home. At around 6.00pm several witnesses saw Jolene getting into a light-yellow coloured vehicle on North Washington Avenue. She has never been seen since. After reports of a girl resembling Jolene being seen with a man in Brooklyn, New York, a suspect was interviewed, but the lead went nowhere. Three years later the murder of a 9 year old girl in Scranton would take the investigation in a whole new direction and introduce a prime suspect in the case.

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Michelle Jolene Lakey

This episode deals with a crime committed against a child. Please exercise self care when choosing to listen.

The day was August 26th 1986. It was a Tuesday and at 5pm 11 year old Michelle Jolene Lakey went to visit her sick mother at Mercy Hospital situated on Jefferson Avenue, Scranton, Pennsylvania. (The hospital is now called Commonwealth Health Regional Hospital). The 35 year old had been admitted due to an intestinal virus and was very pleased to see her daughter.  Michelle (sometimes spelt with one l in reports) went by her middle name, Jolene, but immediate family members referred to her by the nickname “Boo”. I will refer to her as Jolene. Jolene gave her mother a teddy bear as a get well gift. It had cost $8 which came out of the $10 Jolene had recently earned babysitting.

Shortly before 6pm Jolene left the hospital, telling her mother she was going home to pick up a pair of pyjamas as she was planning on staying the night at a friend's house on Myrtle Street. Jolene and her family, consisting of Mum, Stepdad and seven siblings and half siblings lived in a house on 1300 Block Rear North Washington Avenue. This was only a 20 minute walk from the hospital and just before leaving Jolene told her mother she would come back later that evening to say goodnight.

Jolene did not return and some time over the next couple of hours she vanished, never to be seen by her family again. 

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At 8.30pm the mother of the friend Jolene was supposed to be staying with called the hospital to speak with Lois. She inquired where Jolene was as she had not turned up. No one knew where the girl was. 

There was extra reason for concern as Jolene suffered from a chronic bronchial condition. She was born with pneumonia and was always at risk of it returning. In a newspaper interview Lois described her daughter as a sickly and thin child. 

Three detectives from the Scranton city police, including Gene Carroll and Teddy Maus, took on the case but it wasn't long before the State police led by trooper Walter “Pete” Carlson became involved. The FBI were also asked to assist.  

A description of Jolene was distributed far and wide. Jolene was last seen wearing a white blouse trimmed with purple, dark blue sweatpants, and brown sandals with straps. She was petite for her age and wore childrens size 14 clothes and size 8 shoes. She stood at 4 ft 8, 142 cm and 80 lbs, 36kg. Jolene had light brown/dark blonde hair and brown eyes. Her fingernails were long. Her birthday was October 21st 1974 so Jolene was two months from turning 12 when she went missing.

Some other things to note about Jolene are that she was quite shy and softly spoken. She was afraid of the dark and needed a light on to sleep. Jolene loved eating McDonalds fast food and had an interest in animals. When she grew up she hoped to become a veterinarian. 

Police inquiries in the local area soon found several witnesses who had seen Jolene walking along Washington Avenue shortly after 6pm. She had walked back from Mercy Hospital with a friend (the one she was due to stay with that night) but the pair had  parted on Myrtle Street. Multiple people reported seeing a girl matching Jolene’s description getting into a vehicle near the Triple A (American Automobile Association) building, which was just a block from her home. The Pennsylvania Power and Light Company facility was also close by. At first police would not release details of the vehicle or even confirm whether it was a car or a van. In the years since it has emerged that the vehicle was light yellow in colour.

In the majority of reports on this case it is stated that Jolene is believed to be the girl getting into the car and that this happened on her way home from Mercy Hospital. In other words she never made it to the house. An article in the Tribune on September 6th 1986 suggests the police had some question marks about this, as a purse Lois said her daughter had with her when she left the hospital was found at the family home. This is the only time the discrepancy is mentioned so it may be that this was cleared up. 

A photograph of Jolene used on missing person flyers and in the media proved to be controversial as it was discovered the image was almost two years old. A photograph from a strip of four taken at a photo booth in a local Scranton restaurant just three weeks before Jolene went missing was handed to the police by an unnamed informant. The informant believed it was a better reflection of what Jolene currently looked like, as she had matured since the previous picture. 

This development prompted criticism to be leveled at Lois and the family by police for providing an out of date photograph and potentially setting back the investigation. The family responded saying they had given the original photograph in good faith. 

Police argued that they were now back at square one as they would need to recanvass the area with the new picture. The whole issue was blown up in the press and the police even publicly said they now doubted an abduction had taken place at all. There was some back and forth in the press between the family and the police over this issue but eventually things seemed to be resolved and the focus was again put back on finding Jolene. 

An early lead came in after a relative of one of Jolene’s friends said they had seen a comb similar to one owned by Jolene in a van. I do not know who the van belonged to. Scranton police responded in just three minutes to this tip and impounded the van. However, in a subsequent search no comb was found. In a separate development a report came in from a witness who said they had seen a girl matching Jolene’s description getting into a car in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, an hour south west of Scranton. This turned out to be a false lead as it was established the incident took place three days prior to Jolene going missing.

Detectives Teddy Maus and Gene Carroll were sure that Jolene had known whoever had picked her up in the vehicle on Washington Avenue. It was known that Jolene had stood up in school several times warning her classmates on the dangers of going with strangers. The family even used a code word for arranging pick ups and change of plans. The detectives were sure that Jolene would have fled if she had been approached by someone she didn't know and trust.  Investigators checked out friends of the family, relatives and neighbours as well as Jolene's sister's boyfriend. Nothing seemed amiss and all alibis checked out.

This is yet another case that was plagued by crank calls in the early stages of the investigation. One particularly spiteful person telephoned a family friend and pretended to be Jolene saying “they are hurting me, come and get me”. A separate call was made to Jolene's aunt claiming to be from the kidnapper. The aunt went to Nay Aug park in Scranton in an arranged meeting with the kidnapper. The aunt tipped off a local TV station about the meeting but as far as I can see this was another hoax. 

The investigative team became increasingly convinced Jolene had been abducted and taken out of state. A bulletin was dispersed to all parts of the United States and in response calls came in from all along the east coast as far as Virginia. Nonetheless, it was from New York City where the most promising lead was traced.

On Friday 12th September New York police arrested a 32 year old  Brooklyn man on a fugitive from justice warrant relating to the alleged rape of a 14 year old girl from Scranton. The man  owned an 8 property apartment complex and made a living as a landlord. I will refer to this man as Mr X. It was first reported that Mr X was a relative of Jolene but this was false; he was not related. The rape had taken place at a campground in Covington Township, Pennsylvania, in early May 1986. 

The Time Tribune Scrantan reported that while law enforcement were not releasing much information about the suspect or his alleged crimes, other sources were claiming there was a connection between the rape of the 14 year old girl and the missing Jolene Lakey. Apparently a photograph of Jolene was shown to neighbours of Mr X and several said they had seen her recently in the area. What's more, the 14 year old girl at the centre of the rape allegations knew Jolene Lackey. Another potential link was that the 14 year rape survior had been picked up by Mr X near the spot on North Washington Avenue where Jolene was last seen.

Mr X was not an American citizen but a Romanian national who had fled the Ceaușescu regime in the early 1980s. He had lived in various countries around central Europe before travelling to the United States under a sponsorship scheme organised by the Catholic church. 

A New York State detective was sent to question Mr X while he was in county jail following the rape charge. Mr X denied any involvement in Jolene's disappearance. Mr X’s girlfriend told investigators that he was with her on August 26th when Jolene had gone missing. Nevertheless his apartment and van were searched. A hair of indeterminate origin (they were not sure if it was human) was found inside the van and sent to Wyoming for testing. Nothing seems to have come from this. 

Fingerprints were also found inside the van but Jolene’s were not on record so they could not compare them. Ironically Detective Teddy Maus had visited many of the grade schools in Scranton fingerprinting children in case of abduction. Sadly and frustratingly Jolene Lakey was not one of the children fingerprinted. 

Nothing incriminating was found to connect Mr X to Jolene and he was not charged in connection with her case. With regards to the rape charge against him, Mr X ended up taking a plea deal and pled guilty to the lesser offense of corruption of the morals of a minor. He was sentenced to just 23 months. I’m not sure exactly why Mr X was dropped as a suspect but his lawyer told the court at his rape trail in Spring 1987 that there wasnt a single member of law enforcement who now believed his client had anything to do with Jolene’s disappearance. 

Yet another lead surfaced which took investigators out of state, this time to Mississippi. Again the team were left frustrated when the things didn’t pan out.

Jolene’s biological father, Isaac “Woody” Lakey had been estranged from his family for almost a decade. Reports vary concerning when he had last seen Jolene but it was at least two or three years previously. Her father had been the one to give Jolene the nickname “Boo”. It was short for “Boozer” because as a toddler Jolene would walk around with beer cans that had been emptied and filled with lemonade. 

After getting divorced from Lois, Isaac Lakey had moved to Texas. After Jolene went missing investigators tried to track down her father, as they explored the possibility that she may be with him. The problem was they could not find him. Isaac worked as a truck driver and moved around a lot. Investigators were able to find an ex-partner of his but she wasn't able to give a new address. Police even put out an all points bulletin for Isaac Lakey for unpaid child maintenance in order to try and find him.

It wasn't until February 1987 that Jolene’s father heard about his daughter's abduction, after reading about it in a newspaper. He got in contact and it was soon evident that he had no knowledge of his daughter's whereabouts. It must be said this is something Jolene’s mother had told investigators from the beginning.

Time went on with no news of Jolene and investigators were left scratching their heads. They also had an uncomfortable sense of deja vu. Jolene’s disappearance reminded them of another missing persons case that had left them flummoxed. 

On December 7th 1978 22 year old Joanne Williams of East Gibson Street, Scranton, vanished after leaving an exercise class in the Abingtons just outside Scranton. She was due to go out with her boyfriend later that night but when he showed up at her house at 10pm there was no sign of Joanne. Joanne’s father found her red Datsun abandoned on Everett Avenue in north Scranton near Cathedral Cemetery a week later. Her glasses, contact lenses, handbag, cash and an uncashed paycheck were found inside the car. At this point in time there was nothing to connect Jolene Lakey and Joanne Williams, but a couple of years later a sickening murder would introduce a frightening new angle to both cases.

May 14th 1989 was another dark day for the city of Scranton. At 11.30pm a woman named Dorothy discovered a fire burning on Smith Road, a private road in Roaring Brook Township close to Lake Scranton.This is just off the State Route 307. In the flames Dorothy could see a pair of tennis shoes and the body of 9 year old Renee Jean Waddle was soon discovered. The little girl who lived with her family on Madison Avenue had last been seen in the early evening. Her stepfather reported her missing just an hour before the body was discovered. Renee’s cause of death was a blow to the head and she had been sexually assaulted. Presumably the body had been burned in an attempt to destroy evidence.

This shocking murder of a young child was eerily reminiscent of the 1987 murder of 19 year old Laureen Finn from Englishtown, New Jersey. On December 11th 1987 the University of Scranton sophomore spent the evening at O'Tooles Bar on Mulberry Street, then went to a party in a house on Quincy Avenue. At 3am she left the party, but she never made it back to her university accommodation. Just two hours later Laureen’s body was found burning between two homes on the 400 block of Monroe Avenue. Coleman lighter fluid, kerosene and paint thinner had been used to douse the body. An autopsy showed Laureen had been beaten to death and had a broken clavicle and six broken ribs. She had also been sexually assaulted. The similarities with the murder of Renee Waddle were obvious, not least the fact that the mixture of flammable liquids used in both instances were very similar. This made police suspect the two crimes could be connected. 

Six days later 44 year old father of five Frank Osellanie of Vine Street Scranton was taken into custody on an unrelated charge of child molestation. I will come back to discuss these charges later.  Osellanie, who owned “Franks Auto and Truck Sales” on Jefferson Avenue, was arrested following police inquiries in the area. An affidavit filed by Pennsylvania State Police showed that they were eying Osellanie as a suspect in Renee Waddle’s murder. According to this legal document an earring belonging to Renee had been found inside Osellanie’s business premises.

Initially police publicly dismissed a link between the murder of Renee Waddle and the missing person cases of Jolene Lakey and Joanne Williams but again affidavits filed by the State Police suggested investigators were looking into a potential connection between these cases and the aforementioned 1987 murder of 19 year student Laureen Hill. Geography alone made them suspicious of Osellanie, as he had owned an auto repair shop in Kressler Court near Joanne Williams’s home, and he lived just four blocks away from Laureen Finn’s university accommodation, Bradford House, at the time of her murder.

Pennsylvania State trooper Walter “Pete” Carlson questioned Osellanie about the three additional cases, including Jolene, in May 1989. He denied knowing Joanne Williams and Laureen Finn but admitted to knowing Jolene Lakey. Interviews with friends and relatives of  Jolene also showed the young girl had known Osellanie. Jolene had frequently visited his Walnut Street auto shop on her walk back from school. The location was just a matter of  minutes from her home. She would go there to pet Osellanie’s German Shepherd and she had been on car rides with him in the past. 

According to an article in Times Tribune Scranton from June 11th 2007 Osellanie said to State Trooper Carlson, “You think I did this”, (referring to the murder of Renee Waddle). Carlson responded that he did. Osellanie then posed the question, “Why would I burn this one and the other one” “if I buried the first two?”.

While Osellanie was in jail awaiting charges a prison inmate came forward to say Osellanie had told him, “They have me on the two burnings but on the others without bodies, they have nothing”. The inmate had known Osellanie in the past so presumably he thought he could trust the man. From then on Renee Waddle’s murder and the three unsolved cases were worked as a group by police.

The Times-Leader reported on June 4th 1989 that Osellanie was also being looked at for the 1988 murder of Robert Lee Dickens. The 19 year old was shot to death on Adams Avenue, Scranton. The only thing linking Osellanie to the killing was that he looked a lot like the suspect sketch. I’ll say here that I do not know what became of this angle; it does not seem to have been pursued by police.

So who was Frank Osellanie? 

Osellanie was originally from Pittston, Pennsylvania, but had lived most of his life in Old Forge. His father was a miner who raised pigeons in his spare time and his mother worked in a dress factory. He had three sisters and was the only son. He had been married three times, 1968, 1973 and to his most recent wife in 1983, although at the time of his arrest for the molestation charges she was in the process of divorcing him. 

On his arrest for the molestation charges and his possible connection to the brutal murder of Renee Waddle his neighbours said they were shocked at the news, implying that he seemed a regular guy. However, a quick scan of Osellanie’s past showed he had a history of antisocial and criminal behaviour. This pattern started as a young man when he got into trouble for driving offences and receiving stolen property. He also had a violent side. His first and second wives said he had been abusive and his third wife cited violent behavior when she filed for divorce. 

In 1983 as part of divorce proceedings Osellanie underwent a psychiatric evaluation. The conclusion was that he had self-serving sado-masochistic tendencies. He was narcissistic and had what at the time was called mixed personality disorder. This term is no longer used in the DSM-5 diagnostic manual. The term “Other Specified Personality Disorder” is now used. This is when a person has traits of several personality disorders but not enough to meet the diagnostic criteria for any. One mental health expert said Osellanie was emotionally blind to the suffering of others and would likely end up in prison. 

Frank Osellanie was charged with the kidnap, rape and murder of Renee Waddle. In July 1990 after much legal back and forth the trial began. It was thought it may last up to 3 months but in the end it finished in just 13 days. 

I believe semen was found on Renee’s body and was tested against Osellanie. DNA evidence was still in its infancy and the results were inclusive. Nevertheless several pieces of circumstantial evidence left the jury in little doubt that Osellanie was responsible for the little girl’s death.

A witness had seen Renee near the fence of Osellanie’s auto repair shop a little after 7pm on the night she was murdered. The garage door was reportedly open at this time. 

Tyre tracks found near the location of the body were matched to a commercial vehicle that was at Osellanie’s garage undergoing repairs. Several witnesses put the van on Route 307 near the location of the body that night. The type of accelerants used to burn the body were found in Osellanie’s workspace.

The nail in the coffin for Osellanie was that a purple earring belonging to Renee was found inside the auto repair shop. The earrings had been gifted to Renee just the day before by her stepfather and she was seen wearing them on the day she was killed. On top of this the autopsy report showed that Renee’s right ear lobe had been torn.

During the trial Osellanie’s lawyers made it known they would be willing to make concessions if their client provided information concerning any unsolved cases. No such information was forthcoming.

The jury of 8 men and 4 women deliberated for 12 hours and 40 mins. They asked on several occasions for clarification on the distinction between first and second degree murder. Crudely speaking first degree murder involves premeditation and deliberation, second degree requires intent but not premediation.

In the end the jury found Osellanie guilty of second and third degree murder, as well as rape, kidnapping and voluntary and involuntary manslaughter. When the judge sentenced him to life plus 30 or 40 years Osellanie showed no emotion. 

Osellanie's wife was a key witness for the prosecution and helped to secure his conviction. In the years to come she would complain of receiving threats and intimidation by unnamed individuals for her role at trial. She even claimed a note was given to her threatening to blow up her car. I’m unsure if police were ever able to get to the bottom of this.

As an aside I do not know if Osellanie was successfully prosecuted for the separate child molestation charges he was first arrested for. The survivors were two sisters who said they were abused by Osellanie in 1982/83 when they were 7 and 8 and living at his home. Osellanie’s legal team tried to get them thrown out on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired on the offences. (At that time it was only 2 years for such an offense.) Prosecuting lawyers argued that the 2 years started from the time the survivor recognised they had been abused. Both girls had no idea at the time they were abused what was being done to them. It was only years later in 1988 that they realised they had been sexually abused. This shows the importance of empowering children by teaching them age appropriate ways of recognising abuse and finding help. I really hope those girls were afforded some justice. 

At the time of the trial for Renee Waddle’s murder State police said Osellanie was the only suspect in Jolene Lakey’s disappearance. Not only had Jolene known Osellanie and visited his garage on numerous occasions, her last known location, near the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company facility on North Washington Avenue, was within eyesight of Osellanie’s auto shop on Walnut Street.

Radar penetrating devices were used to search under the concrete floors of two of Osellanie’s former business properties, one on Walnut Avenue,  which by 1990 was being used as a warehouse, and the other on Kessler Court. This latter building had been demolished but the concrete floor was still intact. At the former property police teams examined a sealed hydraulic lift. Regardless of their efforts the police found no remains at either property, nor anything that could connect Osellanie to Jolene Lakey or Joanne Williams.

In September 1990 District Attorney Michael Barrasse sent State Police to search two islands on the southern end of Lake Wallenpaupack, in Palmyra township. This is a 40 minute drive east of Scranton. Osellanie docked his boat at a jetty on the lake at Ironwood point and frequented the area regularly.

This decision to search the lake came after a tip surfaced during the Renee Waddle murder trial. A witness said they saw Osellanie on the lake with a young girl near the time Jolene had gone missing. The witness overheard the girl calling Osellanie “Uncle Frank”. Jolene had apparently used this term to refer to Osellanie in the past. The witness also saw Osellanie throw something from the boat into the water. At the time the witness thought it was an old motor engine but in light of what was now known about Osellanie it was speculated that this could have been a body. 

A dog named “Baron” trained to find human remains was brought in to search the islands. Baron did indicate some hot spots but nothing of note was found. Over the next few weeks divers searched the lake itself but again they came up empty handed. 

Around this time searches were carried out in Taylor in Scranton and with particular focus on an old strip mine off Oak Street . Cathedral Cemetery was also searched. I believe this was specifically in reference to Joanne Williams’s case. If you remember her red Datsun was found abandoned near this location.

All these searches carried out by investigators produced no solid evidence connecting Osellanie to the three unsolved cases, and no charges were ever brought against him in that respect. Even after being found guilty of Renee Waddle’s murder he never admitted to killing anyone and did not talk about any unsolved cases. 

While there is a lot of circumstantial evidence for Osellanie’s involvement in Jolene’s disappearance, her mother Lois, also speaking in 2007 was skeptical. She needed more proof. 

In the 2000s, after years of silence, investigators attempted to reach out to Osellanie but he refused their attempts. Speaking in 2007, then Lackawanna county DA Andrew Jarbola  said there was enough evidence to call Osellanie a suspect in all three of the unsolved cases I've mentioned, including Jolene Lakey’s, but not enough to arrest him, or anyone else for that matter. State Trooper Walter “Pete” Carlson who had worked Jolene’s case spoke of his frustration; being almost 100% sure of Osellanie’s involvement but not having enough concrete evidence to get him into court. Likewise Michael Barrasee who was Lakawanna County DA at the time of  Renee Waddle’s murder said he also believed Osellanie had something to do with the unsolved cases of Laureen Finn, Joanne Williams and Jolene Lakey.

It is worth noting that in the case of Laureen Finn’s unsolved murder there have been other suspects. In December 1988 semen found on her body was compared with two Scranton students. One of these men had been with Laureen on the night she was killed and the other had lied to police during the investigation. The tests came back inconclusive. 

Scranton City police detective William Walsh worked closely on Joanne Williams’s missing person investigation. It was his hunch that had led to the searches of Cathedral Cemetery back in the 1980s. Walsh did not believe Osellanie was responsible for Joannne’s disappearance.  Joanne did not know Osellanie and, despite rumours to the contrary, he had never worked on her car or any vehicles belonging to the Williams family. Many years ago Joanne was declared legally dead but her family have never had a funeral and are yet to have answers to the almost 50 year old mystery.

Frank Osellanie spent much of his prison sentence inside his 8x12 foot cell and working in the kitchen. He died behind bars in 2020 taking any knowledge he did have about the unsolved cases of Joanne Williams, Laureen Finn or Jolene Lakey to the grave. 

Over the decades Jolene’s family have continued to publicise her case and search for answers about what happened on August 26th 1986.

In the wake of his daughter going missing Jolene's father Isaac “Woody” Lakey moved back to Pennsylvania. Speaking in 1993 he was hopeful his daughter would one day return. He even questioned whether she may have run away. He undertook his own searches and followed leads to South Carolina, Oklahoma, Missouri and as far away as California. I believe Woody is now deceased. He passed away, never knowing what had happened to his daughter.

For Jolene's mother Lois the heartache never went away. For years she always kept the last two olives in a jar for her missing daughter. As a child Jolene used to put them on her fingers and eat them off one at a time. On several occasions Lois and Jolene’s older sister Justine have retraced Jolene's last steps along the route from what was Mercy Hospital back to North Washington Avenue. Speaking to the Times Tribune in August 2010 it was evident Lois still had hope and said it was even odds whether her missing daughter was alive or dead. Indeed in the same article a leader of a local missing persons charity expressed their belief that Jolene was still alive. 

Attempts to publicise Jolene's case by the family and the media often coordinate around the anniversary of the disappearance or National Missing children's day in May. In 2013 a kiosk was erected outside the Courthouse in Scranton to remember Jolene and other missing children.  Three years later new billboards with Jolene’s picture and details about the case were plastered all over Lackawanna County. This was matched with a renewed commitment by state police to do everything they could solve the case. At a ceremony to mark the 40th anniversary of Jolene going missing a $5000 reward was announced in the hope of finally producing resolution in the case. At the event Jolene's sister Justine spoke movingly of the pain the family continued to experience without Jolene being in their life.

One of the most recent developments in Jolene’s case was in 2020. Following an article in the Scranton Times Tribune highlighting Jolene Lakey’s case an anonymous letter was sent to journalist Joe Kohut. The letter was handwritten on lined paper in very neat cursive text by someone who called themselves “Perhaps just a foolish old woman”. It told of an incident that had happened to them back in the 1980s. The woman and her husband had been driving one night along Interstate 81 close to Scranton when she heard a scream and saw a fire. The screams were terrifying and got very loud and sounded like someone was in pain. Her husband chalked it down as teenagers messing about but the woman had always feared she had heard someone being killed. The writer went on to say that the article about Jolene’s case made her realise she should have reported what she had heard to the police and that maybe it wasn't too late to do so. 

Obviously in light of the way Osellanie had burned the body of Renee Waddle this piece of information was very interesting to police and at the time Osellanie was still alive. Scranton Police made a public plea for the woman who wrote the letter to come forward, particularly as the area around Interstate 81 had changed alot since the 1980’s. They didn't know where to start looking. Police were at pains to say there would be no repercussions for the woman for not having come forward at the time. I do not know if she ever made herself known or whether any areas along Interstate 81 were searched.

Age progression pictures have been produced of Jolene showing her as a woman in her 30s and 40s. If you have any information about missing person Michelle “Jolene” Lakey you can contact the Pennsylvania State police  on 570 963 3156 or Crimestoppers on 1 800 222 TIPS ( 8477).