DETROIT – Richard Wershe Jr. is suing FBI agents and Detroit police and others a year after he was released from prison.
Wershe, formerly known as “White Boy Rick,” was released from a Florida prison in July 2020, ending his 32 years behind bars that started after a drug trafficking arrest at 17 years old.
He became the longest-serving nonviolent juvenile offender in Michigan history. He is now suing the people he believes are responsible for imprisoning him, accusing them of child abuse.
Wershe said as he sat in a prison cell for more than 30 years, he thought about the FBI and Detroit Police Department using him as a high-level drug informant at the age of 14.
Tuesday morning, he and his attorney filed a federal lawsuit against the former FBI agents and Detroit police investigators. The lawsuit is seeking $100 million in damages as it claims Wershe was coerced into assisting police while he was an unsuspecting teen.
When asked why file a year after being released, Weshe said suing from prison would not have been a wise idea.
“We talked about bringing this action while I was in prison. They feared for my safety. They feared that I would be kept in prison forever,” he said.
“They know that they used, unlawfully, a child as an informant,” said his attorney, Nabih Ayad. “They abused, reused this child over and over again. They didn’t want that out.”
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