Would This Wig Fool You?
A feckless fugitive is nabbed by cops in "Golden Girls" wig.
Dec. 31, 2007 — -- A West Virginia fugitive is in custody this week after allegedly trying to conceal his identity by wearing a wig.
"Obviously, that didn't work," Bellaire, Ohio, Police Chief Mike Kovalyk told ABC News' Law and Justice Unit.
An acerbic Associated Press writer described the wig as "reminiscent of 'Golden Girls' Blanche Devereaux's hairstyle."
Patrick Joseph Hall, 21, was wanted on burglary charges and for allegedly assaulting a West Virginia state trooper.
Hall had eluded two weeks' worth of searches in Wheeling, W.Va., and nearby Bellaire, Ohio, which is just across the Ohio River from Wheeling. More than 25 homes had been searched, and during the search of one home, Hall is said to have escaped by jumping out a window and assaulting a trooper.
Hall, whom Kovalyk said is "well known" to authorities in both Wheeling and Bellaire, was considered armed and dangerous.
"He allegedly made comments that he would resist police when they tried to arrest him," Kovalyk said.
A West Virginia state trooper passed along a tip to Bellaire police that Hall could be found at the residence of a man the trooper only knew as "Fek."
"We knew that individual well," Kovalyk said. "In fact, he lives two blocks from our police station."
As officers approached the home, several individuals tried to flee the residence, according to Kovalyk. They were ordered to the ground as police entered the home.
Inside, in an upstairs bedroom, crouched behind a window curtain, was Hall, disguised in the wig.
It was unclear whether Hall has retained an attorney. Attempts to reach relatives of Hall were not immediately successful, and calls to the Marshall County Clerk's office in Moundsville, W.Va., went unanswered today. The story was first reported by the Wheeling News Register newspaper in West Virginia.
Kovalyk said his officers did not make Hall wear the wig in his mug shot for entertainment value.
"It looks funny, but in case that type of wig would come up in any other case, in any other robbery, or should some [law enforcement] agency see that picture, and have an unsolved case where that wig might fit in, we took the picture."
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