Lima, Ohio fugitive Donald A. “Chip” Pugh didn’t care for the mugshot police posted to Facebook, so he sent in a more representative selfie with the message, “Here is a better photo, that one is terrible.”
Lima Police Department officials obliged his request and posted the new picture to its Facebook page, as well, with a message back to Pugh, LimaOhio.com reports.
There is an active warrant for the arrest of Donald A “Chip” Pugh, age 45 of Lima, for Failure to Appear. Mr. Pugh is…
Posted by Lima Police Department on Wednesday, January 6, 2016
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“This photo was sent to us by Mr. Pugh himself,” police wrote. “We thank him for being helpful, but now we would appreciate it if he would come speak to us at the LPS about his charges.”
Pugh was arrested recently for drunken driving and is currently wanted for failing to appear in court. He’s also allegedly a person of interest in arson and vandalism cases, according to the news site.
Pugh’s taunting response quickly earned him a lot of attention online, and the local “Two Tons of Fun” radio show on 104.9 FM got in touch with the fugitive for an interview last week.
“Man, they just did me wrong,” he said of the silly grinning mugshot initially posted by police, according to The Root. “They put a picture that made me look like I was a Thundercat or something.”
Throughout the conversation, Pugh continued to taunt police, which of course further fueled his notoriety.
“When I was a little kid, my grandmother told me a bedtime story,” Pugh told the radio hosts. “My hero was this character who used to say, ‘Run, run, fast as you can. You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man.’”
Pugh said he was in Town Square holding a “Not guilty” sign, then at McDonald’s, then a chicken coop – “cockadoodledo!”
Over the last few days, the ordeal has spawned a “Free Chip Hugh” Facebook page, which is already defunct, as well as numerous doctored images of Chip hiding behind police, in the bushes in front of the station, running past a patrol car, and even at the Golden Globes.
There’s also a post that appears to be by Pugh himself, actually posing in front of the Lima Police Department.
The online antics also created a spat between the LPD and the Free Chip Hugh Facebook page administrators. LPD banned Pugh from posted on its page, so the Free Chip Hugh page banned the LPD from posting, as well.
“We would like to thank the BBC for the shoutout in their latest article,” the Free Chip Pugh page posted today. “Ladies and gentlemen we have reached national news.”
The Free Chip Pugh page has ballooned to 400 “likes” so far, while the original Lima Police mugshot posts generated 2,200 “likes” as well as nearly 1,000 comments and 3,400 shares.
Comments on the police page were wide ranging.
“He’s gone too far. The picture was funny, but the police have a job to do,” Lisa McCourt Hollar posted. “They’ve only said he is a person of interest in the arson, but his running over a DUI … makes me wonder if he is guilty. What he needs to do is get himself a good lawyer and turn himself in.”
“He should be found not guilty on all charges,” Sean Davis wrote. “That’s awesome.”
“I know Chip personally … he got too much money to hide. I know he got a lawyer by now and he is turning himself in. He is a very intelligent man,” Sheree Adams posted.
“He’s not intelligent enough to obey the law,” Joyce Miller Butler countered. “No matter how much money he has he’s got a lot of charges.”
Christine Martinez wasn’t impressed with any of Pugh’s mugshots.
“I hate to be the one to tell ya, ‘Chip’ but you look drunk/stoned in two out of three of your ‘selfies’, and you don’t look good in any of them,” she wrote.
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