Page 1 photos lead to an easy arrest in Idaho
This is the front page of the Lewiston Tribune of Idaho– not to be confused with the Lewiston, Maine, Sun Journal — for Thursday, Dec. 14:
See anything unusual about those two photos? Anything at all?
Here’s the AP report of what happened:
The [photo lower on the page] was taken from [a convenience] store’s surveillance video, which reportedly shows the man slipping the wallet in his coat pocket and walking away. The picture of the possible purloiner ran along with a story explaining that a woman had forgotten her wallet at the store, and that police were now trying to identify the man in the video.
Also on the front page ran a festive photo of a holiday scene taken by the newspaper’s photographer, Kyle Mills. That photo showed a man — in a blue and black coat — painting decorative Christmas greetings on storefront windows. The caption identified the man as Michael Millhouse of Millhouse Signs in Lewiston.
Some sharp-eyed copy editors at the newspaper first noticed the matching photos as they were laying out the newspaper Wednesday night and wondered if they showed the same man, managing editor Paul Emerson said Thursday.
“They were pointing it out and laughing about it,” Emerson said.
A newspaper employee called the nearby Clarkston, Wash., police department early the next morning to report their suspicions.
Police Chief Joel Hastings said that after picking up a copy of the paper, Officer Jeremy Maguire contacted Millhouse and asked about the wallet. Millhouse was subsequently arrested and charged with felony second-degree theft. He is scheduled for a hearing on Monday, Asotin County Prosecuting Attorney Ben Nichols said, and he was released from custody after posting $5,000 bond.
Is there a Pulitzer category for a photo directly leading to an arrest? Or, at least, an SND category?
The Lewiston Tribune circulates about 27,000 daily. For a higher-rez look at that page, click on this thumbnail:
Thanks to sharp-eyed Brandon Stuck for pointing this out to us.