PWC Police Misidentify Dallas Cowboys Receiver, Manassas Native, As Shoplifter

MANASSAS, VA — When the Dallas Cowboys received word Monday that backup wide receiver Lucky Whitehead had been charged with shoplifting last month at a Woodbridge convenience store, the NFL team cut the former standout for Osbourn High School on the first day of training camp. One problem, though. Prince William County police misidentified the culprit, who was not, in fact, Lucky Whitehead.

Said police Tuesday: "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."

(For more local news, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts. Also, like us on Facebook, and if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

That's what Whitehead and his agent had been maintaining all along. On Tuesday, the third-year player — now a free agent — lashed out against the Cowboys' actions.

"Let's not sugarcoat anything," Whitehead said during a phone interview with the Dallas Morning News. "I was pretty much being called a liar. . . As far as the whole situation went down, I was blindsided. I didn't know about a warrant that came about in the first place. Clearly because I wasn't the person arrested.

"The head person [in the Cowboys organization] I told, no one backed me up. No one had my back in the whole situation. I knew about it at what? 12:45. By 2:30 I'm released."

Prince William County Police said the man arrested June 22 had no ID but told them his name was that of Whitehead and provided other personal information belonging to Whitehead.

"Officers acted in good faith that, at the time, the man in custody was the same man matching the information provided," police said. "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."

Photo of Lucky Whitehead by Keith Allison via Flickr, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.