The Wanted Man Who Sent Police a Better Selfie Because He Hated His Mugshot
Most people who discover that police are circulating their photograph have one obvious instinct: stay out of sight.
Donald A. “Chip” Pugh took a very different approach.
In January 2016, the Ohio man was wanted by police after failing to appear in court in connection with a misdemeanor drunken-driving case. The Lima Police Department posted photographs of Pugh online and asked members of the public to help locate him.
Pugh eventually saw the post.
But instead of focusing only on the fact that police were looking for him, he apparently found another problem that demanded his attention.
He hated the photographs.
So, while authorities were still trying to find him, Pugh contacted the police department himself and supplied what he considered a much better picture.
It was a selfie.
In the image, Pugh appeared sitting in a vehicle, dressed far more stylishly than in his police photographs. He wore sunglasses and a patterned jacket and looked directly at the camera.
His accompanying message became the line that transformed an otherwise ordinary wanted-person notice into an international viral story:
“Here is a better photo that one is terrible.”
The Lima Police Department could hardly have expected the response.
Instead of ignoring Pugh's unusual contribution, officers added his preferred photograph to their social-media effort and publicly thanked him for helping them improve the search.
There was, however, one additional favor they wanted from him: come to the police department and deal with the outstanding warrant.
The exchange became one of the strangest police-and-fugitive social-media stories of 2016.
And, remarkably, it was real.
It Started With a Routine Police Appeal
The story began in Lima, a city in northwestern Ohio.
According to reporting by CBS News and ABC News, Pugh, then 45, was the subject of an active warrant after failing to appear in court. ABC News reported that the warrant related to his failure to appear for an arraignment connected with a drunken-driving charge.
Police were trying to locate him, so on January 6, 2016, the Lima Police Department turned to social media.
The department posted booking photographs of Pugh and asked the public for information about his whereabouts.
According to ABC News, police also described Pugh as a person of interest in other investigations, including cases involving arson and vandalism. Importantly, being described as a “person of interest” is not the same as being charged with or convicted of those offenses.
The purpose of the Facebook post was straightforward: show people what Pugh looked like and encourage anyone who knew where he was to contact authorities.
But the person who responded was Pugh himself.
ABC News reported that Lt. Andy Green of the Lima Police Department said Pugh contacted police through a private Facebook message on the same day the photographs were posted.
Pugh's complaint wasn't primarily about the warrant.
It was about his appearance.
The booking photos, in his opinion, simply weren't good enough.
So he provided his own alternative.
“Here Is a Better Photo”
Pugh's replacement image was dramatically different from the mugshots police had circulated.