A fugitive has offered a selfie to police, after being dissatisfied with the unflattering mugshot that law enforcment has been circulating, in order to facilitate his arrest.
45-year old Donald Pugh, nicknamed “Chip”, currently has an active arrest warrant against him, after having been accused of failure to appear in court following a DUI arrest. In addition, Pugh is treated as a person of interest in other criminal inquests launched by the Lima Police Department.
One of them concerns an act of vandalism, and another one is a robbery, and it is believed that Pugh may have been involved in these incidents, or may at least hold vital information that might advance the investigation.
Given the fact that Pugh is a wanted man, a couple of his photographs have been published on the official Facebook page pertaining to the Lima Police Department.
One of them is of the suspect sneering goofily, as if he were inebriated or deeply embarrassed, while the second one is much more professional-looking, showing Pugh looking straight at the camera, with a serious look on his face.
It appears that the fugitive was so unhappy when he saw these pictures, that he decided to come out of hiding, and reach out to police. The middle-aged man didn’t actually surrender or contact law enforcement in order to discuss his pending charges. Instead, he simply provided officers with another photograph of himself, dismissing the ones that had already been posted as truly “horrible”.
The new selfie shows Pugh in the driver’s seat of his posh vehicle, wearing sun-glasses, a checked plaid grayish suit, and a light-colored shirt. The suspect’s hair appears freshly cropped and styled, and his neatly trimmed thin mustache gives him the air of a highly important person.
Also, apparently, a male caller claiming to be Pugh contacted Lima-based radio station WEGE (104.9 th Eagle), saying that he didn’t actually commit any crime, and that he needed police to remove his former photo, because it made him resemble a Thundercat.
In the interview, held during a show called “Idiot of the Day”, the man revealed that he most closely identifies with the gingerbread man instead, because of the fact that he’s always on the run, without ever being captured.
Representatives of the Lima Police Department have initially been baffled with the suspect’s humorous show of vanity, but have eventually added the selfie to the Facebook post, notifying local media as well.
This doesn’t mean that they’ve chosen to comply with Pugh’s demands, but simply that they’re hoping that if the case gains more visibility, and the man’s photos are more heavily circulated, this will aid officers in apprehending him and bringing him to justice.
As explained by lieutenant Andy Green, Pugh’s selfie may eventually cost him his freedom: as more people find out about the case, there are greater chances that someone familiar with his whereabouts will send an anonymous tip to the police, which will be vital in securing his arrest.
Playing the cat and mouse game with law enforcement is never a good strategy for wanted criminals, as evidenced by another case involving a British teenager.
19-year old Sam Greenwood, who had been sought by police after breaching his conditions of release mocked them on Facebook for their inability to catch him, and then in as little as 12 hours he was identified by an officer, and placed under arrest.
Image Source: Zap2it
