Fugitive who sent police new mug shot arrested in Florida
WASHINGTON — Everyone has bad picture days, including wanted criminals. Like school portraits and driver’s licences, mug shots seem to number among those occasions that yield unflattering photos.
Donald (Chip) Pugh, 45, learned this the hard way. After Pugh — who was arrested in Florida on Tuesday — allegedly failed to appear in court in Lima, Ohio, city police posted his mug shot on Facebook last week notifying the public of the search for him.
“Mr. Pugh is also currently a person of interest in several other cases,” the post reads, including for “arson and vandalism.”
The post caught the attention of Pugh himself, and he was appalled by how he was rendered. Apparently, Pugh thought the mug shot failed to capture his good side.
Pugh promptly sent police a replacement. “Here is a better photo that one is terrible,” he wrote in a message accompanying a selfie that shows him wearing a houndstooth-patterned suit and sunglasses in the front seat of a car.
Ever the obliging police department, it added the selfie to the post, along with a note to Pugh: “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.”
Police say Pugh was arrested in Century, Florida, Tuesday and is being held on another warrant out of Georgia.
Last week’s search didn’t stop Pugh from appearing on a local radio show to tell his story.
After his mug shot and selfie started circulating on the Internet, the city’s classic rock station 104.9 Eagle featured Pugh on its “Idiot of the Day” segment.
Pugh, who said he was born and raised in Lima, lamented his esthetic misfortunes. “They just did me wrong,” he said. “They put a picture out that had me looking like I was a Thundercat or somebody, man.”
The radio show’s hosts, Phil Austin and Ryan Staley, repeatedly asked where Pugh was located, to which he gave varying responses.