It’s not often that mug shots – even of the oft-arrested celebrity – go viral, but less so when the alleged felon is unknown to everyone except the police. But in the case of Californian Jeremy Meeks, 30, the handsome face of the man has gone viral on social media, attracting more than 33,000 “likes” and, as one news outlet pointed out, drawing praise for his chiselled features, striking Paul Newman-style blue eyes and high cheek bones.
But its not a modelling assignment that Meeks is wanted for right now, but a felony weapons charge when he was arrested on Wednesday on five weapons charges and one gang charge, according to Officer Joseph Silva, a spokesman for the Stockton Police Department.
And the viral mug shot is setting a record, according to the Christian Science Monitor.
No previous arrest photo has garnered so much positive attention since the department set up the Facebook page in March 2012, Silva told The Associated Press.
“I have not seen that many likes for a photo before,” he said.
By late Thursday, Meeks’ arrest photo had garnered more than 33,000 “likes,” and 10,400 comments, and had been shared more than 3,300 times. Other postings on the site generally receive hundreds of “likes.”
Meeks was one of four men taken into custody during Operation Ceasefire, a multiagency mission to curb a recent increase in shootings and robberies in the Weston Ranch area of Stockton, a Northern California city of about 300,000.
