SOUTH BOSTON (WHDH) — A convicted child rapist from Weymouth was arrested again Friday.
Richard Gardner was arrested at a shelter on Southampton Street in South Boston on a fugitive from justice warrant. He was convicted in Rhode Island and Massachusetts in the late 1980s and early 1990s for kidnapping and molesting children.
“It’s an ongoing nightmare,” said Cheryl Ellsworth. Her 11-year-old son was kidnapped from his bedroom in 1988 by Gardner, who then molested him. “If he would come in a window in the middle of the night and kidnap and sleeping child at knifepoint, he is a danger to any child out there.”
The U.S. Marshal’s Office in Rhode Island issued a warrant for Gardner after they said he violated his parole. How exactly he violated his parole is still under investigation.
Gardner was originally sentenced to 190 years in prison for his crimes. He received a shorter sentence on appeal and was released earlier this month after serving only 27 years. He moved back to his parents’ house in Weymouth, prompting an outcry from parents in the neighborhood.
Officials said Gardner told police he no longer felt comfortable in Weymouth and then moved to Suffolk County. It was unclear where he went until now.
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