Bill Gates was arrested in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1977
When Bill Gates and his friend Paul Allen were in their early 20s, they were living in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where they later created Microsoft. The famous mugshot of a smiling, much younger Gates that is still shared online today was created when Albuquerque police booked Gates into jail on the evening of December 13, 1977.
The cause of Gates' arrest has "been lost to the sands of time," claims Ars Technica. The future tech billionaire was apprehended, according to Buzzfeed, for driving without a license and failing to stop at a stop sign. Regardless of the details, Gates' apparent disregard for his fate as he beams at the camera stands out.
The founder's mugshot may have actually become a Microsoft inside joke. One image from Outlook 2010, which was meant to show a person's silhouette, has an uncanny resemblance to the contour of Bill Gates' arrest photograph, as noted by Ars Technica. Gates acknowledged that American business tycoon Paul Allen had saved him in a Time magazine article.
