COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — The Chicago man who made headlines for impersonating a police officer at 14 years old — earning the nickname "Kid Cop" — pleaded guilty Tuesday to committing the same crime as an adult.
Cook County Judge William G. Lacy sentenced Vincent Richardson, now 21, to 18 months prison.
Richardson drew national attention in 2009 when, at only 14 years old and in the eighth grade, he persuaded an actual police officer that he was a cop and joined the officer on patrol.
Richardson dressed up in uniform, walked into the Grand Crossing station and said he was from a different district, according to Sun-Times reports. Richardson was assigned to a traffic patrol, handed a police radio and spent five hours patrolling the streets with another officer.
The stunt embarrassed Chicago police and infuriated then-Mayor Richard M. Daley, who questioned how so many supervisors blew it. "He's only 14 years old," the mayor said at the time, according to the Sun-Times.
Richardson was locked up in juvenile jail after that adventure.
He popped up again in 2013 when he tried to buy police gear at VCG Uniform on Irving Park Road, court records show. The then 19-year-old told an employee he worked in the Englewood District.
But the employee didn't buy it, prosecutors said, and soon ran an Internet search that revealed Richardson's 2009 exploits.
"I know what it is like to be one of you," Richardson allegedly told police when he arrested in July 2013. "I respect you because I did it for a day, chasing and helping people. My intentions are never to hurt people, just to help."
Richardson pleaded guilty in November 2013 to impersonating a police officer and was sentenced to 18 months in prison, court records show.
His most recent arrest happened during a May 2015 traffic stop. An officer spotted Richardson and an accomplice wearing bullet-proof vests, carrying BB guns and listening to a police-style radio in the car's console, according to the Sun-Times.
Richardson pleaded guilty in that case Tuesday, earning another 18 months in prison, court records show. He was credited with serving 334 days in jail awaiting trial.
Contributing: Erin Meyer
