MIAMI – After spending more than three decades in prison, the Michigan native known as “White Boy Rick,” whose time as a drug dealer and undercover FBI informant inspired a movie of the same name starring Matthew McConaughey, found himself back behind bars again. This time in Miami-Dade County.
Police officers arrested Richard “White Boy Rick” Wershe Jr., 53, on Tuesday after accusing him of attacking his girlfriend of four months during a fight at his condominium in the Quantum on the Bay building, located at 1900 N. Bayshore Drive in Miami’s Edgewater neighborhood. The two got into an argument during sex, according to police.
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When police officers searched Wershe, they found he was in possession of the keys to a Lamborghini, nearly $11,000 in cash, a gold Rolex watch, two gold chains, and a set of AirPods, according to the Miami Police Department’s arrest report.
The woman, who suffered bruises, told police officers on Tuesday at the Miami police station that she had waited to report the attack when it happened on Saturday because of her immigration status, according to a police report. While she was at the station, Wershe rushed in allegedly looking for his car keys.
Federal law protects victims of crimes who are legal or undocumented immigrants.
Here is how a police officer described the alleged domestic violence incident:
While the two were having sex, Wershe uttered another woman’s name. She quickly moved away to get out of the bed, when he forcefully grabbed her left arm and snatched a diamond bracelet and necklace that he had bought her. She managed to pull away, throw a shoe at him and miss — but Wershe caught up to her and punched her. There was a witness who reported seeing Wershe punch his girlfriend in the chest.
The police report doesn’t specify who the witness was or why he or she was present.
Wershe became a federal informant at age 14. His work resulted in the convictions of several Detroit drug kingpins. He was later arrested in 1987 with 9,000 grams of cocaine and $30,000 cash. Wershe spent decades behind bars in both Michigan and Florida before his release in 2020.
Miami-Dade court and jail records show corrections officers released Wershe at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $5,000 bond, and on Wednesday he was facing charges of robbery by sudden snatching, a third-degree felony, and a misdemeanor battery charge.