UPDATE: Cowboys released Lucky Whitehead after police issued a warrant for his arrest, a day later, police drop all charges on Lucky after learning through an investigation that they got the wrong guy,
[Original Report} Can you keep up? We’re trying. Dallas Cowboys’ WR Lucky Whitehead was arrested in Virginia in June for shoplifting/petit larceny under $200 and now a warrant has been issued. He was ordered to appear in court on July 6, but according to court records he didn’t show up, a warrant was issued for his arrest. ESPN is reporting that the Cowboys organization was unaware of this current incident until TMZ reported it earlier this Monday, Lucky recently made headlines for his kidnapped dog that was returned safely.
If you’re trying to keep up with the latest incidents the Cowboys have found themselves in, you can catch up here.
UPDATE (7/24): The Cowboys have cut Lucky Whitehead. More on his release here at DallasCowboys.com
UPDATE AGAIN (7/25 at 11am) : After the Cowboys release, it’s been found out that the suspect that committed the crime in Virginia was NOT Lucky Whitehead. The police have dropped the case against Lucky. Agent for the football player says, “Lucky is thrilled justice was served and his name was cleared. It’s a shame that he came into town to do a camp for kids and he ended up getting cut by his professional football team.”
The individual that committed the crime identified himself as Lucky giving date of birth and a social security matching Lucky’s real name. After Lucky publicly declared it was not him that committed the crime, police went back and looked at footage from the store where the crime was committed and confirmed it was not Lucky.
Prince William County Police Dept. statement:
“Upon reviewing the June 22, 2017 arrest of an individual named ‘Rodney Darnell Whitehead, Jr.’, the police department is confident that the man charged with petit larceny, and who is subsequently being sought on an active warrant for failure to appear in court, is not Lucky Whitehead of the Dallas Cowboys.
The man charged on the morning of June 22 was not in possession of identification at the time of the encounter; however, did verbally provide identifying information to officers, which included a name, date of birth, and social security number matching that of Rodney Darnell Whitehead, Jr. Officers then checked this information through the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) database. The DMV photo on file was then used to compare to the man who was in custody.
Officers acted in good faith that, at the time, the man in custody was the same man matching the information provided. At this point, the police department is also confident in confirming that Mr. Whitehead’s identify was falsely provided to police during the investigation.
The police department is currently seeking the identity of the man involved in the incident. Since the identifying information provided by the arrestee during the investigation was apparently false, the police department is working with the Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office to clear Mr. Whitehead from this investigation.
The police department regrets the impact these events had on Mr. Whitehead and his family.”