PORTLAND, Ore.–A man arrested for a string of credit union and bank robberies may have been identified by eyewitnesses only after police Photoshopped his image, according to a report here.
Tyrone Allen
According to the Oregonian, Tyrone Lamont Allen, 50, has been arrested for the robberies. But Allen has a number of distinctive face tattoos, including across his forehead, but tellers at the CUs and banks that were robbed did not provide descriptions that included any tattoos. Surveillance video from the credit unions and banks also show a man with no visible tattoos.
After police were given a tip that Allen was involved in the 2017 robberies, investigators used Photoshop to digitally alter his mug shot, covering up his distinctive tattoos, the Oregonian reported. Two of the tellers, who weren’t told that the image had been edited, subsequently picked him out of a photo array of five similar-looking men and identified him as the robber, the report added.
Judge Asked to Rule
A federal judge in Oregon has now been asked to rule on whether the evidence should be thrown out of court, and whether Allen’s rights were violated. His attorney, Mark Ahlemeyer, argued that the question has weighty implications, given that today’s technology makes it easier than ever to manipulate a photograph, the Oregonian reported.
If covering up a suspect’s prominent facial tattoos is considered fair game, the Oregonian noted the federal public defender wrote in a recent motion, “there would presumably be nothing wrong with adjusting various pixels to make someone’s face appear slimmer, so long as the government’s theory was that the suspect had gained weight since the crime.”
All of the robberies took place in northeast Portland in early April 2017, with the robber nicknamed the “Foul Mouth Bandit” because of his frequent use of profanity. Four banks and credit unions were robbed over four consecutive days.
Allen had been arrested separately after being stopped for driving a car with no license plates, headlights or taillights.