A teenager who made news two years ago for impersonating a Chicago police officer so effectively that he went on patrol with real police has been arrested again, this time for weapons offenses.
Vincent Richardson, 17, wasn't carrying a gun when he was arrested for pretending to be a police office in January 2009. This time he was charged as an adult with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and possession of ammunition without a FOID card and appeared at the Cook County Criminal Courts building earlier this month, court records show.
Police said Richardson was arrested May 10 at about 9:30 p.m. after officers got a call of a person with a gun in the 5900 block of South Throop Street. When they arrived officers saw a male fitting the description the caller gave and approached him. Police did a pat-down and found a loaded gun and ammunition.
Police sources said a family member lives on the 5900 block of Throop Street but his address is listed as the 5400 block of South May Street.
Richardson was arrested and appeared the next day in court, where he was ordered held in lieu of $50,000 bail. He remains in Cook County Jail and awaits a June 1 court date, according to court records and the jail's Web site.
In January 2009, a 14-year-old Richardson put on a novelty badge stolen from a South Side uniform shop and a convincing uniform and went to the Grand Crossing District police station. There he was assigned a radio and went on patrol with an officer for more than five hours.
While on patrol, Richardson drove a squad car, used the car's computer and helped on five calls, including one in which he assisted with an arrest, police said at the time. He was arrested after the shift when a sergeant noticed he wasn't wearing a badge.
The impersonation case was heard in a juvenile court. While free on bail during those proceedings, he got in trouble again when, dressed in a suit and tie, he took a Lexus from a South Side car dealership and drove it for three hours before cutting off a deputy police superintendent, crashing the car and getting arrested again.
Richardson was sentenced to probation for the impersonation and car-theft charges but later violated the terms of the release and was put in juvenile detention for two months. A few months later he was sentenced to juvenile prison for five years after pleading guilty to shoving his mother and stealing a relative's Cadillac.
It was unclear when Richardson was released from custody.