It was almost silly enough that you might think the cops were playing a joke.
But Lancaster police said they were serious when they released a very crudely drawn illustration of a suspect in a theft from a local market.
The drawing was done by a witness to the Jan. 30 crime.
(Lancaster Police)
"We released all of those details together in our police log in the hope that someone recognizes the suspect," officials said, according to
Lancaster Online
. "This was not done in jest."
And it was a good thing they did, too. The sketch actually led someone actually give the cops a name.
Well, it wasn't all because of the drawing. Police released more details about the suspect: He is 5-foot-4, between 30 and 40 years old, thought to be Asian or South American, has black hair and wide cheekbones.
"While the sketch provided by the witness may have appeared amateurish and cartoonish, it, along with the distinctive physical descriptors, jogged the memory of at least one investigator to provide a potential suspect name," the police wrote on their Crime Watch page.
And they think they have their man:
(Lancaster police)
The witness positively identified Hung Phuoc Nguyen, 44, as the suspect. Police said Nguyen impersonated the owner of a stand at a marketplace, making off with an undisclosed amount of money. On Wednesday, police issued a warrant for his arrest.
But that didn't stop folks from having a field day on social media. When Lancaster Online put up the post for their story on the sketch, users lined up for some fun.
