KISSIMMEE, Fla. — A former teen FBI informant who was sentenced to life in prison in Michigan on drug charges in the 1980s is scheduled to be released from a Central Florida halfway house next week.
According to ABC affiliate WXYZ, Richard Wershe Jr., known as “White Boy Rick,” was convicted of possession with intent to deliver over 650 grams of cocaine and sentenced to life in prison when he was a teenager. It later became public knowledge that Wershe began trafficking drugs after working for the FBI as an informant.
In 2017, Wershe was granted parole after serving nearly 30 years in prison. At the time, WXYZ reported that he was Michigan’s longest-serving nonviolent criminal.
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After his parole was granted, Wershe was transferred to a Florida prison to serve five years after being convicted on racketeering charges related to an auto theft ring investigators said he was involved with while incarcerated.
The story of Wershe’s life made it to theaters in 2018 in a movie titled “White Boy Rick” starring actor Matthew McConaughey.
On Monday, Wershe is set to get his first taste of freedom after more than three decades when he is scheduled to be released from the Tradition House in Kissimmee.
Stay tuned the Channel 9 Eyewitness News for updates.
Cox Media Group
