Posted on 07/18/2026 12:40:12 PM PDT by simpson96
Police in Florida arrested a man and held him in jail for nearly three months based on a bad facial recognition result. It's far from the first time such a thing has happened—in fact, it's at least the second time that the same sheriff's office was involved, according to Action News Jax.
In April 2025, a man in Jacksonville, Florida, purchased a car from someone he met in a grocery store parking lot. When he learned the car was stolen, he reported the crime to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office. Using surveillance footage from the parking lot, investigators ran the suspect through facial recognition software, which flagged Jalil Richardson as an 85 percent match.
The case had problems. First and foremost, Richardson lived in Charlotte, North Carolina—400 miles away. Not only that, but time cards showed Richardson was at work when the suspect was selling a stolen car in Jacksonville.
But that didn't dissuade police. Richardson was arrested in North Carolina and held for 33 days, at which point he was extradited to Jacksonville and held for another 53 days. Prosecutors finally dropped the charges and released him last month after he had spent nearly three months in jail.
Richardson told Action News Jax that the arrest and confinement cost him his job, his house, and custody of two of his children.
Arresting someone for a crime he did not commit is among the worst things law enforcement can do, especially if that arrest causes negative results in the arrestee's life. But this is not the only time in recent memory that cops in Jacksonville have made this mistake.
Earlier this month, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sued the city of Jacksonville Beach, a separate municipality just east of Jacksonville. Police officers were investigating an attempted child abduction when a Jacksonville Sheriff's Office investigator ran photos of grainy surveillance footage of the suspect through facial recognition. The software flagged Robert Dillon, whom officers arrested and charged, even though he lived and worked 300 miles away.
The ACLU identified at least 15 people, including Dillon and Richardson, who had been arrested since 2019 based on bad facial recognition.
85% is not “beyond reasonable doubt”. I know, that’s for the jury to decide but the cops and DA should have known and given the guy release - unless, I suppose he was suspected of very serious other violent crimes.
He didn’t have a lawyer in NC?
No, they extradited him to another state 300 miles away or whatever, after he spent a month in the local lockup. I am not a “justice involved person” so I don’t understand all the fine details of this kind of thing. So maybe I’m missing something. It costs money to keep people locked up, you’d think they would want to keep space open for dangerous folks, and make sure this guy is good for the crime. I bet it costs money to extradite too.
Yeah maybe and maybe what they are not letting on is that despite all the evidence the man had saying he was at work, this case was blowing up in the Jacksonville PD’s faces and they had no way to back away without getting egg on their faces. Facial recog software is not full proof despite how the cop shows make it look. The man had proof and witnesses at work, he can’t be two places at once. He loses his kids and his whole working life...yeah he needs compensation big time!
This could have been stopped in NC but I’ll bet he had no lawyer or couldn’t afford one. The lawyer could have filed to stop extradition to Florida based on the proof the man had.
Something does stink with this story!
I agree FL owes him for messing up his life based on only 85% accurate information/witness IDs. Thankfully it wasn’t years lost! I hope he can regain custody with kids.
Those who pursued his arrest should be jailed over 80 days, or pay the amount this guy gets as settlement.
ACLU....sad.
The longer they hold him, the worse it gets though. That doesn’t make sense, if they didn’t think they had their man.
“It costs money to keep people locked up, you’d think they would want to keep space open for dangerous folks, and make sure this guy is good for the crime.”
My guess is the PD gets money for every inmate. Like public schools that get funds for every student, which is an incentive not to expel disruptive students.
This was an egregious action and this man’s life sounds like it was upended, as anyone’s would be.
The police and city must pay huge reparations over this, and be jailed for months, themselves.
Remain calm. Don’t speak to the police except to say “Lawyer! Lawyer! Lawyer!”
It depends, I’ve heard some county lockups charge inmates. I’m sure that’s popular.
Going to be comfortably rich before the dust settles...
He’s about to get a big payday and he should.
Good for the ACLU. It’s not often I see them doing good work like this.
NC held him for extradition. FL didn’t bother rushing to go get him. NC can’t bond him out, since they aren’t investigating his crime. FL wasn’t picking him up, so he just has to wait... and lose everything. It’s an issue that needs to be addressed, as it seems to be a clear Constitutional violation (speedy trial).
While it is not very common, in my limited experience, it is possible, under the multi state extradition compact, to waive extradition to another state, then post bond and be released on the promise to appear in the other state.
A case where the in-state defendant can show proof that he was actually in-state, and not in the state that has charged him, based solely on facial recognition software, ought to be the exemplar of a situation where that is done. One wonders what legal advice he had in North Carolina, if an extradition was sought, and if so, what ruling was made.
Aha! Now I understand. Thanks for that, makes sense
Why didn’t somebody at the cop shop notice he had an alibi though? “Frank, this guy was at work on that day, in a completely different state, 300 miles away.”
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