GoKawiilCHARLOTTE — Jalil Richardson, a Charlotte resident, spent months incarcerated in Florida and North Carolina after being misidentified by artificial intelligence facial recognition technology for a vehicle theft he did not commit.
Charges against Richardson were dropped last week, following an ordeal that cost him his job, his home, and custody of two of his children.
The wrongful arrest stemmed from an investigation by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office into a stolen car purchased on April 2, 2025.
A deputy used AI to match a suspect from surveillance video and a fake Georgia identification to Richardson with 85 percent accuracy, leading to an arrest warrant for Richardson.
According to court documents, a man in Jacksonville, Florida, contacted law enforcement after he tried to register his new car and found out it was stolen.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office recovered surveillance video from the parking lot where he bought the vehicle. The man who bought the vehicle also told a deputy the suspect gave him a fake Georgia identification.
Richardson was later arrested at his home in Charlotte, North Carolina. He stated he was held in the Mecklenburg County Jail for one month.
He was then extradited to Florida, where he was held for almost two months. “I sat in there for over 50 days. In the most worse jail ever,” he explained.
Richardson described his experience as traumatizing. “It’s very traumatizing and unbelievable. I lost everything,” Richardson said.
He believes a proper investigation was not done. “There was no proper investigation done to even reach out to me or to see if I was even in Florida. He just automatically put a warrant out for my arrest,” Richardson said.
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