WEYMOUTH, MASS. (WHDH) - A convicted sex offender who has caused concern in Weymouth after his recent release from jail has been summoned to court for violating a city ordinance after he was found in a Quincy library.
On Oct. 8 just before 11:30 p.m., Quincy Police responded to the Thomas Crane Public Library for a report of an unwanted person.
A librarians told police she saw Richard Gardner, a Level 3 sex offender, inside the library using one of the computers.
Police approached Gardner and told him he would be summonsed to court for violation of a city ordinance, which says a registered sex offender is prohibited from entering the premises of a school, library or day care center unless previously authorized.
According to police, Gardner is not wanted at this time.
Police in Weymouth said they have already received several calls after a Gardner was released from prison.
Gardner served 27 years in prison after he was sentenced for kidnapping and raping young boys. In one case, Gardner abducted a boy at knife point from his bedroom. In another, he tied a boy to the tree and molested him.
Gardner was initially sentenced to 190 years in prison in Rhode Island in 1991. Upon appeal in 1993, he got a shorter sentence. In Massachusetts, he received about 15 years when he was sentenced in 1989. He has now moved back into his parents’ home on Chandler Street in Weymouth.
“I am disgusted,” said neighbor Kathleen Fay, who is the mother to a 10-year-old. “You are supposed to feel safe in your own home and no one feels safe.” Fay said she got an alarm system for her house and put up a sign warning about a guard dog.
Last week, neighbors said they saw Gardner peering over a fence.
Gardner is out on probation until 2043. If he violates probation, he will likely go back to prison.
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