https://www.sfgate.com/california-wildfires/article/citizen-app-california-palisades-wildfire-reward-16185996.php Skip to main content Currently Reading 'We made a mistake': Citizen app offers $30K reward for wrong man in Palisades wildfire * Newsletters * Sign In * [ ] * Home + About SFGATE + Contact SFGATE + Newsletters + Ethics Policy + Advertise With Us + Privacy Notice / Notice At Collection + Terms of Use + Ad Choices + Classifieds + Do Not Sell My Personal Info * News + Bay Area + California + Nation + World + Politics + Commuting + Crime + California Wildfires + Business + Education + Sponsored Content + Health + Jobs * Local + SF History + Businesses + Places + Essays + Sponsored Content * Sports + 49ers + Giants + A's + Warriors + Soccer + Sharks + TV Listings + College + Preps * culture + Movies + Music + Streaming + Characters + Tech & Social Media + Things To Do + Sponsored: SF Culture + Cannabis + Senior Living * Food + Drink + Restaurants + Reservations + Beer News * Travel + City Guides + Weekend Getaways + Wine Country + Napa + Tahoe + California Parks + Disneyland + Hawaii + SF Insider: Things to do + Monterey-Carmel * Real Estate + New Homes + (Virtual) Open Homes + Luxury + Rentals + Mortgage Rates + Place a Real Estate Ad + Neighborhood Guides + Home & Garden * Obits + Obituaries + Place an Obituary * Coupons * Buy Area MOST POPULAR * (FILES) In this file photo taken on April 08, 2013 a JetBlue A320 is parked at Brookley Field after a ground breaking ceremony for an assembly line for the Airbus A320 at Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile, Alabama. - The no-frills US air carrier JetBlue will go carbon neutral for all domestic flights starting the summer of this year, the company announced January 6, 2020. 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Santa Clara just pulled off a major upset in NCAA championship * A close-up of the entrance to Upwork's former Silicon Valley headquarters. Silicon Valley firm bucks tech exodus, moves HQ to San Francisco * A helicopter flies over as firefighters battled a 1,325-acre brush fire May 16, 2021 near Pacific Palisades, California. 'We made a mistake': Citizen app hunts down innocent Calif. man News // California Wildfires 'We made a mistake': Citizen app offers $30K reward for wrong man in Palisades wildfire Andrew Chamings May 18, 2021Updated: May 18, 2021 1:53 p.m. Facebook Twitter Email A helicopter flies over as firefighters battled a 1,325-acre brush fire May 16, 2021 near Pacific Palisades, California. Nick Ut/Getty Images Californians are already on edge as the wildfire season appears to be on us again, before it ever really went away. The 2020 wildfire season was the most damaging on record, and this weekend saw a Southern California blaze add to the 2021 season, which has a dire outlook. The cause of the Pacific Palisades brush fire, which ignited on Friday and tore through 1,325 acres over the weekend, is believed to be arson, and LAPD identified a man in custody, Ramon Santos Rodriguez, 48, as a suspect on Tuesday. But Rodriguez was not the man "personal safety app" Citizen put a $30,000 bounty on over the weekend, leading to a potentially dangerous and misguided vigilante manhunt. Citizen -- a mobile app that sends users location-based safety alerts in real time -- launched in 2016 under the name "Vigilante." It rebranded in 2017 but faced accusations of encouraging vigilante activity in 2019 in New York. The app saw a massive growth in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, as authorities such as Los Angeles County made the app the official contact tracing app. As the fire was blazing, Citizen sent out the notification to its 860,000 Los Angeles users on Saturday with a photograph of the man based on unsubstantiated tips, the details of which they have not yet revealed. Top Picks In Shopping * Shopping The buyer's guide to Le Creuset * Shopping The best masks for people who wear glasses * Shopping What's the difference between a Crockpot and a slow cooker? * Shopping Get the funk out of anything with these $6... "Citizen is offering a $30,000 reward to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest of the arson suspect," the notification said. That man was detained by police late Sunday night but was released as there was not enough evidence to charge him with a crime, reported Spectrum News. Los Angeles County Sheriff's Lt. James Braden told the outlet the the actions by Citizen were potentially "disastrous." Citizen has since admitted to the error. "We publicly posted the photo and offered a cash reward for information without formal coordination with the appropriate agencies. Once we realized this error, we immediately retracted the photo and reward offer. We are actively working to improve our internal processes to ensure this does not occur again," the company said in a statement, "This was a mistake we are taking very seriously." Top Picks In Shopping * Shopping The buyer's guide to Le Creuset * Shopping The best masks for people who wear glasses * Shopping What's the difference between a Crockpot and a slow cooker? * Shopping Get the funk out of anything with these $6... Written By Andrew Chamings Reach Andrew on SFGATE Local Editor Andrew Chamings was formerly Senior Editor at The Bold Italic and has written for The Atlantic, Vice and McSweeney's. Follow him on Twitter. 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