Ohio Fugitive Sends Selfie To Police, Says He Didn’t Like His Mug Shot
An Ohio fugitive sent a “selfie” to the police department that’s looking for him, apparently because he didn’t like the mug shot of him that police were using on their Facebook page, ABC News is reporting.
As fugitive criminals go, Donald “Chip” Pugh isn’t exactly “America’s Most Wanted” — he’s got an active warrant for failure to appear in court for a DUI charge. Still, Mr. Pugh skipped court when he was supposed to be there, so the Lima, Ohio, Police Department issued a warrant for his arrest and termed him a fugitive.
Like a lot of police departments are doing these days, the police department of Lima, Ohio (population: 38,000, give or take) keeps citizens informed of its goings-on with a Facebook page. Besides news of weather, traffic, and Crimestoppers tips, Lima also hopes their social media presence will help them round up wanted fugitives. And on January 6, they posted a mug shot of Mr. Pugh.
“There is an active warrant for the arrest of Donald A ‘Chip’ Pugh, age 45 of Lima, for Failure to Appear. Mr. Pugh is also currently a person of interest in several other cases including an arson and vandalism. If you know the whereabouts of Donald Pugh, please contact the Lima Police Department, the Allen County S.O. or the Shawnee Twp Police Department. You can also contact Allen County CrimeStoppers.”
A short time later, Mr. Pugh privately messaged the Lima police, telling them that he didn’t think his mug shot was very flattering, and he sent a selfie instead.
“This photo was sent to us by Mr. Pugh himself. We thank him for being helpful, but now we would appreciate it if he would come speak to us at the LPD about his charges.”
Mr. Pugh is not the first criminal to try to play cat-and-mouse with the police. Now that police are using social media to get the public’s help in catching fugitives, it seems that some dumb criminals have made a game of trolling the very police departments that want them. Other dumb criminals simply brag about their criminal activity on social media.
In 2012, for example, New York City police busted ten leaders of a Bronx street gang, known as the “WTG,” after they posted photos of themselves on social media holding guns, and bragging about their crimes, according to an NYPD press release. To be fair, the gangstas tried to disguise their activities using words like “glocc” and “swammy” for their firearms, but the NYPD was able to crack their code, and arrested them all.
Then there’s Michael Baker of Jenkins, Kentucky, who, according to Mashable, siphoned gas from a car — a police car, no less — then posted the picture on Facebook, all while giving “the finger” to the camera.
“Michael Baker was arrested after posting a Facebook photo of himself stealing gas from a police car in Jenkins, Ky.” pic.twitter.com/H8xukxk10Y
— tabitha (@tabithakristen) May 28, 2013
With Jenkins being a town of only a couple thousand people, it didn’t take long before the gas thief got caught. And while his stint in the clink may have put him off of his gas-stealing habit for life (or maybe it didn’t), it didn’t stop him from making dumb posts on Facebook about his crimes.
“yea lol i went too [sic] jail over facebook.”
As of this writing, Donald Pugh, new selfie or old mugshot aside, has not been apprehended and remains a fugitive.
[Image via Facebook]
