Tattoo Tells The Tale as Philadelphia Police Clear Victim of Apparent ID Theft
By Molly Daly
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A case of mistaken identity briefly put a West Philadelphia man on a "wanted" poster late last week.
It started on Thursday with a dustup during a narcotics arrest. Police lieutenant Ray Evers says the suspect kicked a cop, then claimed he'd been injured.
"That male was taken to Pennsylvania Hospital, 8th and Spruce," says Evers, "and he gave his name to police as a Randall Stiles."
Along with an address and date of birth. But as cops were putting him back into their vehicle, he took off.
He hadn't been processed, but the information he gave seemed to match a photo the cops had on file, except for one thing: the escaped suspect had an "H" tattooed between his eyes but the picture didn't.
But, police reasoned, the tattoo could've been new. So Randall Stiles became a wanted man.
"Then, on Friday night, the real Randall Stiles went to Southwest Detectives and identified himself, and said, 'I'm not the person on the news -- I don't have any tattoos.' "
So, the manhunt for Randall Stiles was called off.
As for the wanted man, he's about 6' 3" tall and 180 pounds, with a strong facial resemblance to Stiles. And one more thing, notes Lt. Evers:
"With an 'H' tattooed between his eyes, it shouldn't be that hard to find him."
