An article saying Jeremy Meeks, whose “handsome” mugshot went viral last month, was killed by his wife is nothing more than a hoax.
The bogus article was posted on Huzlers.com, a self-described “satire” website.
According to its disclaimer at the bottom of each page, it says that “Huzlers.com is a combination of real shocking news and satire news to keep its visitors in a state of disbelief.”
The fake article has a few thousand shares and “likes” on Facebook as of Wednesday night.
It reads in part: “According to jail records, Jeremy Meek was released from jail just before midnight on Tuesday night. About an hour later, just before 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning, Stockton Police found him laying in the road in the area of Dayton and West in Central Stockton. He was taken to Community Regional Medical Center where he died from his wounds shortly after arriving (sic).”
The article also spells Meeks’ name incorrectly as “Jeremy Meek.”
On Twitter, a number of users reacted to the fake article, apparently believing it.
According to E! Online in a report last week, Meeks appeared in court in a jumpsuit. Meeks is facing one charge, which is a felon in possession of a firearm.
He faces as many as 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
He was arrested as part of a Stockton gang sweep in June.
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Original AP update for Meeks’ arrest, mugshot:
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A handsome mug shot of a Northern California man arrested on felony weapons charges has gone viral on social media, attracting more than 33,000 “likes” and drawing comments praising his high cheek bones, chiseled face and striking blue eyes.
Jeremy Meeks, 30, a convicted felon, was arrested Wednesday on five weapons charges and one gang charge, according to Officer Joseph Silva, a spokesman for the Stockton Police Department.
Silva declined to say what Meeks was previously convicted of, saying the department does not routinely release information about a suspect’s criminal history.
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 nestled amid the network of waterways that form the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
