Facial hair (or lack thereof) really can transform a man’s look, especially if he is being looked at by the cops of Westville, New Jersey. On Wednesday afternoon, a bearded 33-year-old named Michael Morgan robbed a local bank of $900 by passing a note to the teller and taking off. The police began searching the area with a surveillance photo of Morgan, who had promptly returned home to throw out the clothes he was wearing, shave his beard, and take his dog for a nice walk around the neighborhood.
Westville Police Chief Bill Whinna told CBS New York that an officer approached the thief, showed him the picture of himself, and asked him to call 911 if he spotted the suspect. (Morgan said he would.) It was only later, when neighbors recognized Morgan in the image, did the police realize that they already had their man, who was then arrested. As you can see in the “before” and “after” photos of Morgan’s slapdash makeover, he does look a bit different, but the cheekbones really should have given him away.
