Modest Break
In a lifetime that hasn’t had many breaks, Richard “White Boy Rick” Wershe, Jr. got a modest break last week.
Florida parole officials shortened his prison sentence. He will be released on August 17, 2020. He had been scheduled to end his life in prison October 26, 2020.
Wershe was the FBI’s youngest paid drug informant, a non-user, who got caught up in the glitz and cash of the drug trade and was caught by the Detroit Police with enough drugs to receive a mandatory life sentence under an old Michigan narcotics law. He spent more time in prison than most murderers.
He was paroled by Michigan authorities in 2017 but was immediately transferred to Florida to serve part of a five-year prison term in an auto fraud and theft scheme. He was charged with the state crime while in a Florida federal witness protection prison.
Model Prisoner
When he was serving time in Michigan, Wershe was described as a model prisoner by corrections personnel.
Wershe, 50, currently is living in minimum security barracks in Kissimmee, Florida, a short distance south of Orlando.
He is a participant in The Transition House, a work-release program for inmates who exhibit good behavior. If there’s one thing Wershe has learned after spending his entire adult life behind bars, it’s how to get along with prison guards and obey the rules.
Wershe had hoped for a clemency release but those hopes were dashed by a Florida clemency review board about six months ago.
The Movie
Hollywood produced a deeply flawed movie, “White Boy Rick”, loosely based on his career as an FBI informant.
The real story can be found in my book, “Prisoner of War: The Story of White Boy Rick and the War on Drugs.”
When Wershe is released by Florida authorities he must live in Michigan to fulfill terms of his parole from the life sentence. He has a job waiting for him at a suburban Detroit auto dealership.
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