A male fugitive has become a viral sensation after he replied to a
Facebook post shared by police declaring him wanted.As part of its
"Wanted Wednesdays" bulletin, the Richland Police Department posted an
ad announcing that Anthony Akers, 38, was wanted by the Washington state
Department of Corrections for failing to comply with sentencing. The
Facebook post read:Wanted Wednesday! Anthony Akers (38) is wanted by the
Department of Corrections for Failure to Comply. If you have any
information please call 509-628-0333
Few
hours after the post was shared, Akers replied and told the police
to "calm down" that he was going to turn himself in.He wrote:Calm down,
I'm going to turn myself in.However, when Mr Akers did not show
up Richland Police reached out via the same comment thread, informing
him that they still haven't seen him. They also made him aware of their
hours of operations and a non-emergency number he can contact if he
needs transportation. He then replied to the police:Thank you, tyding up
a couple loose ends since I will probably be in there for a month.
Should be in there in the next 48 hours.But after 48 hours passed and Mr
Akers still did not turn up, social media users who had been following
the conversation got interested. "Has he turned himself in," one
Facebook commenter posted. "He has not," the police replied.
Akers
then responded again with an apology, writing:Dear RPD, it’s not you,
it’s me.I obviously have commitment issues. I [apologise] for standing
you up. I will be there no later then lunchtime tomorrow, I know you
have no reason to believe me after what I did to you, but I promise that
if I don’t make it on my own by lunchtime tomorrow I will call for a
ride to assist me with my commitment issues.Thank you in advance to your
response if you are patiently giving me another chance with us, I know i
don’t deserve it.P.S. You’re beautiful.But he still did not show
up, so the police department responded once more asking for the public’s
help in finding him.
The
police wrote:We waited, but you didn’t show. After you stood us up, we
reached out again — this time offering you a ride. You replied and said
you needed 48 hours.The weekend came and went. We are beginning to think
you are not coming. Please call us anytime and we will come to
you."Akers ended up keeping his promise. On Tuesday, December 4, at 3:29
p.m., he turned himself in to Richland police and posted about it on
Facebook.Sharing a selfie he took at the police station, he wrote:Here
for our date sweetheart.
The humour has won him the hearts of local police and social media users.
