Cops Keep Stopping 'Most Wanted' Lookalike

Pennsylvania's James Tully walks to work through heart of Eric Frein search area
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 23, 2014 11:14 AM CDT
Cops Keep Stopping 'Most Wanted' Lookalike
A Pennsylvania State Trooper patrols along a closed section of Lower Swiftwater Road on Saturday, Oct. 18, 2014, during a massive manhunt for killer Eric Frein in Swiftwater, Pa.   (AP Photo / The Scranton Times-Tribune, Butch Comegys)

Talk about an unfortunate case of mistaken identity: Pennsylvania's James Tully says police seem to think he resembles accused cop killer Eric Frein, and it's causing quite the headache. Tully tells ABC News he's been stopped by inquiring officers more times than he can count while walking the five miles to his job at a metal manufacturing factory in Monroe County's Mountainhome. His walk takes him through the area where police are hunting for the fugitive survivalist, who is on the FBI's Most Wanted list. One day Tully was stopped seven times; while walking on Route 447 on Friday, an officer forced him to the ground at gunpoint, pinning him there by thrusting a knee in Tully's back, the Pocono Record reports. Worse still, "once you get closer, you can see there is no resemblance," Tully says.

"What I don't understand is how can you confuse someone five-foot-eight-and-a-half for someone six-foot-one," Tully tells NBC News. For now, he's taken to wearing a reflective vest and an employer ID card on his route. Frein is "going to try and blend in," Tully says. "I want to stand out so I can let them know; look, I'm not the one they're looking for. Just let me go on my way." He adds his only other route to work is through the woods, which he believes is a worse option. Some 1,000 officers are now searching for Frein, who is accused of killing a trooper and critically wounding another during a Sept. 12 attack. Pocono Mountain Schools were closed Tuesday due to a reported sighting of Frein but have since reopened. (More Eric Frein stories.)

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