Oprah Hands Over $100,000 Reward Money

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/12/2005 at 08:00 AM EDT

Oprah Winfrey dispensed $100,000 to two women on her show Tuesday, reward money that the friends are splitting for their roles in nabbing a fugitive sex offender from Indiana.

Karie Miller of Fargo and Jean Rosenthal of Moorhead, Minn., held hands on the show as Oprah's audience gave them a standing ovation. Last Thursday, after seeing one of the FBI's most-wanted men on the program, Miller – who'd been told about the segment by Rosenthal – tipped off bureau agents, reporting that William Carl Davis lived in an apartment above her family.

"This is why I say you were so courageous, because you know what courage is," Winfrey told the women. "It's being scared but doing it anyway."

After Miller checked the profile on Oprah's Web site, she called FBI agents in Minneapolis to turn in the neighbor she knew as Mark Allen Davis.

Authorities wanted Davis, 33, of Wadesville, Ind., on 10 felony counts of child molestation and failing to register as a sex offender. Davis, who now remains in custody, lived in the Fargo-Moorhead area since August 2004, according to Dave Harmon, who employed Davis as a maintenance man, the Associated Press reports.