Missing hiker’s father increases reward to $500,000
not going to put anybody in prison. All we want to do is to get back Jesse’
A reward offered after Montrealer Jesse Galganov disappeared while hiking in Peru last year has been increased substantially as his father continues to make every effort to find his son.
Galganov has not been heard from since Sept. 28, 2017, when he texted his mother to say it would be impossible to contact him for four days while he hiked the Santa Cruz trail in Peru, which cuts through the world’s highest tropical mountain range. It was the last message sent from his phone.
Both of the missing man’s parents have made exhaustive efforts to find him.
As part of his efforts, Todd Galganov, the young man’s father, spent nine months in Peru searching for his son and learned much about the country.
He said that after having searched “every nook and cranny ” around the trail, he fears his son was taken against his will to work for the type of criminal organizations he heard about while searching for him.
He said he figures the former reward offer, of US$32,500, was not enough to convince someone running or working for such an organization to release his son. He said that, with help from family and very close friends, he is now able to offer a reward of US$500,000.
“The money that was offered already, which comes out to $32,500 (U.S) didn’t get any bites — nothing,” Todd Galganov said.
“Basically, you have cocaine farms fighting against the army and the navy. God knows what is going on there. Then you have marijuana plantations. You have illegal mining. You have gun smuggling. Who knows what else you have. You can only imagine. So now I’m figuring it’s go big or go home. I don’t want to be walking around when I’m 90 years old asking myself why I didn’t address the possibility. “For these guys, if they did take him, $30,000 is probably an hour’s work. I don’t know. I’m just a simple father from Montreal. “This $500,000 (U.S.) is for anybody who has proof of life and we are able to get back Jesse ( based on the information). I’m a father. I’m not a policeman. I’m not going to put anybody in prison. All we want to do is to get back Jesse and they will get their money.” The reward is offered on notices posted in three languages on Todd Galganov’s Facebook page. They include the email addresses: helpusfindjesse@gmail.com and todd@graffitisigns.com.
The father said his son was last seen going up the Santa Cruz trail on Oct. 1, 2017, near a section called Punta Union.
In a recent interview with the Montreal Gazette, the young man’s mother, Alisa Clamen, said her efforts to find her son have cost $2 million, including searches involving local teams and an elite Israel-based search-and-rescue team. Four days before she last heard from him, Clamen drove her son to the airport to board a flight for Peru and the start of what was to be an eight-month travel adventure in South America and Asia.
Todd Galganov said that while he and Clamen divorced when Jesse was two years old and their younger daughter was 10 months old, “I have always been devoted to my kids and remain so” while both parents work to locate their son.
The father said he met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Lima in April, at the Summit of the Americas. He thanked Trudeau for having spoken to the president of Peru directly about his son.
Todd Galganov said he was told, following the conversation between the two leaders, that plans were made to have 400 people conduct a search in four cities in Peru over the course of six days. Unfortunately, Galganov said, only 37 people ended up searching for a day.
“I’m calling on the Peruvian government and the powers that be to help us find Jesse,” he said.
“I had very high hopes for that (search).”