Pike County Sheriff targets laundromat thief embarrasses citizen
The Pike County Sheriff’s Office is asking for help to find a man they say broke into a laundromat and took several items.
According to police, an unidentified bearded man wearing camo broke in on the afternoon of February 7. He took multiple items and also damaged others. They shared this image of him looking like he’s about to break into the pop machine and asked that anyone with information contact Sheriff Jim Nelson by calling the Sheriff’s office or commenting on the post.
That’s when things took a turn for the worse for the already troubled department. A couple of people took it upon themselves to identify who they thought they thought the suspect might be in the comments. Now, the pic is pretty blurry and there are probably a couple of thousand guys in the region with a beard, camo jacket, and camo hat. The guy they identified (who I’m not going to name because there’s zero evidence that he did anything) was pretty ticked off that his name was mentioned.
He commented that he called the Sheriff about the allegations and, “They do not have a clue what is being said.” He went on to say he was assured he wasn’t being investigated and that he knew exactly where he was at the date and time the incident happened.
While Pike County is under a lot of pressure, having to pay Sheriff Charlie Reader his full $69,000 salary while he awaits trial of corruption charges this spring, and you hate to pile on, typically law enforcement agencies don’t ask people to comment publically on social media posts with tips but rather to contact privately via email, messenger, or phone to avoid misidentification or outright harassment. If you think you know the guy in the picture, call the Pike County Sheriff’s Office at (740) 947-2111.