KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The man who spent 17 years in prison for a robbery he didn’t commit — a case commonly known as the “Doppelganger Case” — and was awarded $1.1 million from the state of Kansas after his release has been indicted on weapons and drugs charges.
The Office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri announced Wednesday that Richard A. Jones, 43, has been charged in federal court with three counts of felon in possession of a firearm and two counts of possession of a controlled substance.
Based on eyewitness testimony, Jones was convicted of robbing a Roeland Park Walmart in 1999 and sentenced to 19 years in prison, a sentence that was reversed in June 2017 after a nearly identical man was identified as a possible suspect.
Jones became the first person to receive a settlement payment last December after Kansas passed a law to provide compensation to wrongly imprisoned individuals a year ago.
Now, Jones has been charged with possessing a semi-automatic rifle and methamphetamine in June 2018, a semi-automatic handgun in February 2019, and a semi-automatic handgun and cocaine in March 2019.
Jones had prior felony convictions for burglary of a motor vehicle, sale of a controlled substance and robbery before the overturned robbery conviction.
