A jagged red lightning bolt inked on the right side of his face gives Dylan Vok a distinctive appearance, to say the least.
But the 28-year-old Detroiter matches no longer is wanted by the NYPD for questioning in a Staten Island knifepoint mugging two years ago, even though the victim describes such a tattoo.
New York Times crime reporter Michael Wilson looks at the colorful case:
The police searched their database of photos of young white men with big red lightning-bolt tattoos on their faces, and they found a match. The name on the picture was Dylan Vok, 28, a Staten Island resident with a short criminal record. He once was arrested carrying a sword in a park and charged with possession of a weapon. He was also arrested after breaking car windows with a skateboard.
The mug shot was released to the press. Word of the search for Dylan Vok and his big red lightning-bolt tattoo spread online, all the way to Detroit and to one incredulous reader in particular: Dylan Vok.
He tells The Times, as he told a New York detective by phone, that he moved to Detroit in October 2011 -- three months before the crime.
“I had lots of proof of that. I was using a food-stamp card. I had time stamps.” He said he could even produce video footage of himself at his job.
The young Detroiter has a theory about the uncaught mugger:
"It could have been that somebody who I wasn’t very friendly with took a red marker and drew a lightning bolt on their face.”
A new and old photo of Vok's face are at The Times' link below.
