'Kid Cop' Sentenced To Prison For Again Impersonating Officer
(STMW) -- The man who famously dressed as Chicago Police officer when he was 14 and fooled cops into letting him patrol the streets for several hours was sentenced to prison Thursday for impersonating a cop in July.
Vincent Richardson pleaded guilty Thursday to false impersonation of a peace officer and Judge Lauren Gottainer Edidin sentenced him to 18 months in prison and issued a $454 fine, said Cook County State's Attorney's office spokesman Stephen Campbell.
On July 23, Richardson posed as an Englewood District police officer while trying to buy police clothing, which constitutes felony impersonation of an officer, authorities said.
Richardson, of the 6300 block of South Marshfield Avenue, walked into VCG Uniform in the 5000 block of West Irving Road and told the salesman he was an Englewood District officer and showed his driver's license, authorities said.
Richardson was dressed in a pair of dark blue cargo pants and a white duty shirt that resembled what officers wear, prosecutors said.
Richardson asked for a nylon duffel bag, cargo pants, blue duty shirt and duty belt, but abruptly exited through a back door before getting the items or retrieving his ID, prosecutors said.
A store employee looked Richardson's name up on the Internet and realized he was the same person who notoriously impersonated an officer when he was 14.
Richardson soon came back to the store to get his ID and was detained by police officers summoned to the store, prosecutors said.
In 2009, Richardson made national headlines as a 14-year-old when he walked into the Grand Crossing District station dressed as an officer. He was assigned to traffic patrol for five hours before his identity was discovered toward the end of the shift.
Months later, Richardson dressed up as a businessman and pretended to take a test drive at a South Side car dealership before driving away with a Lexus.
In 2010, he was sentenced to juvenile prison for pushing his mother and stealing his uncle's car.
A year later, he was charged as an adult in a gun case. Richardson received one year in prison for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, according to court records.
In his most recent case, Richardson was given credit for 106 days served in Cook County Jail, according to the state's attorney's office.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
