Sex offender back in custody, facing charges in RI

October 17, 2016 5:42 pm

By Alana Cerrone

acerrone@abc6.com

A level 3 sex offender released from prison after serving less than 30 years of a 200-year sentence is now in custody in Massachusetts and coming back to Rhode Island to face a judge.

Richard Gardner was serving that sentence for kidnapping and raping young boys in the 1980’s, including two who were from Rhode Island.

But 30 years into his prison time he was released. Instead of being sent to a mental institution, he was allowed back onto the streets, due to what the Plymouth County District Attorney calls a ‘human error’.

He was released October 3, and moved into his parents’ home in Weymouth.

Gardner’s lawyer, Peter Feldman, says concerned neighbors forced him out.

"He has nowhere to go… if he has to go to the end of Cape Cod and keep walking into the ocean at some point we all have to decide what we are doing to people who are the untouchables. He served a sentence…a long sentence."

That’s when his lawyer says he went to a Boston homeless shelter. He was arrested there Friday, accused of violating his parole by visiting a Quincy library, but failing to notify librarians of his sex offender status.

He faced a Massachusetts judge Monday, seen hiding his face underneath his shirt. He is being charged as a fugitive from justice out of Rhode Island. He will be held without bail, awaiting extradition.