More than two decades after vanishing while on trial for sexual assault, a fugitive featured on “America’s Most Wanted” returned to a Rhode Island courtroom this week — and, for the first time since he fled, appeared before a judge using his true identity.
Ronald Fischer, 70, gave his real name during a hearing in Newport Superior Court, where the judge withdrew a long-standing warrant connected to his alleged failure to appear for trial in April 2005. Fischer was then arraigned on a bail-jumping charge, with bail set at $20,000 surety.
Investigators caught up with Fischer earlier this month on the 56-foot sailboat “Silver Lining” off the New Jersey coast, following what authorities described as a credible tip about where he had been hiding.
At Monday’s hearing, Fischer did not have a lawyer by his side, and the court addressed the process of appointing legal counsel for him.
Ronald Fischer appears in Newport Superior Court after authorities took him into custody last week aboard a sailboat off the coast of New Jersey. (Pool)
He is due back in court on Aug. 17.
According to authorities, Fischer spent years living under the assumed name “Dr. Richard Graydon” while avoiding arrest for more than 20 years.
Fischer’s disappearance dates back to his 2005 sexual assault trial in Rhode Island. He had been accused of assaulting a woman aboard his boat at a Portsmouth marina in 2003. After he fled, he was convicted in absentia and became one of Rhode Island’s most wanted fugitives, with his case highlighted several times on “America’s Most Wanted.”
Ronald Fischer is escorted into a Newport, Rhode Island, courtroom for his first appearance after being captured following more than two decades as a fugitive. (Pool)
An affidavit previously obtained by INC News details how investigators believe Fischer meticulously planned his disappearance before vanishing.
Investigators wrote that Fischer emailed his attorney on April 23, 2005, saying he intended to flee the country rather than risk a conviction. Later that evening, they said he called each of his daughters and told them he was leaving the United States.
According to the affidavit, Fischer contacted a New York travel agency before purchasing an American Airlines ticket from Boston to London, only to cancel the reservation before boarding the flight.
Ronald Fischer appears in Newport Superior Court in Rhode Island on Monday, days after authorities captured the longtime fugitive following more than 20 years on the run. (Pool)
Surveillance cameras later captured him returning a rental car to an Enterprise location in Boston shortly after midnight before walking away carrying two travel bags.
Investigators also determined Fischer spent the days before his disappearance putting his affairs in order by transferring vehicles to his daughters, instructing them to remove their belongings from his home and disposing of a Jaguar before vanishing.
Ronald L. Fischer, a former anesthesiologist and one of Rhode Island’s longest-wanted fugitives, was captured after more than 20 years on the run, authorities said. (Rhode Island State Police)
The affidavit also alleges Fischer emailed attorney Robert Mann explaining he had decided not to risk being convicted in Rhode Island and instead planned to leave the country to pursue what he described as “a good, safe, secure and comfortable life.”
Fischer now faces sentencing in the sexual assault case, a felony bail-jumping charge and a pending federal charge alleging unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
The U.S. Marshals Service credited a multi-agency investigation and a public tip with leading investigators to Fischer’s capture, ending what it described as one of Rhode Island’s longest-running fugitive cases.
