ATHOL — A man is offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who offers a tip leading to the arrest of a woman he once called his friend.

George Booten said he paid more than $3,800 earlier this year to bail Sarah M. Fast, 42, out of jail after she was arrested in Wisconsin.

The Monroe County Herald reported that Fast was the driver in a high-speed chase that occurred Jan. 10 in Tomah, Wis.

The suspect vehicle allegedly reached speeds greater than 100 mph before it lost control, hit a guardrail and then crashed into a tractor trailer, sending both vehicles off the road and into a ditch.

Fast was reportedly charged with fleeing an officer, disorderly conduct, operating while intoxicated and three counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety.

Booten said Fast reached out to him and asked for help. The pair were childhood friends, he said; their grandmothers were neighbors.

“I’m loyal to my friends,” he said. “In fact, I’m too loyal.”

That was why he paid Fast’s bail, he said, and why he allowed her to stay with him at his home in Athol before she was scheduled to appear in court again in Wisconsin.

“She wanted to get her life straightened out,” Booten said.

He said he last saw Fast on Aug. 17. She failed to appear in court on Aug. 21, according to court documents, and a judge issued a bench warrant for her arrest, which has not yet been returned.

A long-haul trucker, Booten said he had a stroke last year and spent most of his savings while he was recovering and unable to work. What was left went to pay Fast’s bail, which he said he’d trusted he would get back after Fast made her court appearances.

If Fast is apprehended and the bail money is returned to Booten, he said he’s willing to give $1,000 to the person whose tip led to Fast’s arrest.

“They’ve got to be able to prove they dropped a dime on her,” he said. “Then, as soon as I get my money back, I’ll be able to pay the reward.”

Booten said he believes Fast is still in the area because he’s heard from friends and acquaintances who have seen her. She’s 5-foot-2, he said, with blond hair, blue eyes and a large butterfly tattoo on the right side of her neck.

She has allegedly called Booten from multiple spoofed phone numbers to tell him he’s not getting his money back. He said he last heard from her about two weeks ago.

When he spoke about the ordeal, Booten became emotional.

“How could a childhood friend do this?” he said.

More than anything, he said, he hopes to put all this behind him soon.

“I just want to have her apprehended and face justice,” he said.