Lucky Whitehead was telling the TRUTH -- he was not the man arrested for shoplifting on June 22, this according to Prince William County officials who say the REAL perp was an imposter.
We spoke with Commonwealth's attorney, Paul Ebert, who says the case against ex-Dallas Cowboys WR Lucky Whitehead has been dropped after an internal investigation into the arrest.
Long story short ... Ebert says the man was only "verbally identified" by the arresting officer at the crime scene. The arrestee did not have I.D. on him.
The man told cops he was Lucky Whitehead and gave them Lucky's information, including birthday and social security number, Ebert says.