BOSTON — A convicted child rapist has been held without bail while he awaits extradition to Rhode Island to face possible probation violation charges.
Richard Gardner was released from prison less than two weeks ago after serving a shortened sentence on his conviction for kidnapping and sexually assaulting several children.
Weymouth residents were immediately on edge when Gardner returned home to live with his parents, due to the seriousness of his crimes. A petition was started to have him sent back to jail.
"When I saw his face on the news, it really brought back everything and I like I've been failed," Thomas Shearman said. He was one of Gardner's victims.
Shearman says he was 10 when it happened in 1988. He went to the store to get milk for his mother.
"He hit me a couple of times and threw me in the car -- and at knife point -- he put a ski mask over my head and I sat on the floor board of the front seat of the car, crying my eyes out," Shearman said.
He testified in the trial with two other victims that led to Gardner getting 190 years in prison. But after appeals and other legal factors, Gardner was released after serving only 28 years.
"He's done brutal things to children, things -- these memories -- that we'll never get out of our heads. It's absolutely awful," Shearman said.
When Gardner allegedly showed up to a library in Quincy -- one that was filled with children -- officials began to ask questions about why he was released back into the public.
Gardner was arrested on a fugitive from justice charge our of Rhode Island and appeared in court Monday for a hearing.
Gardner told the judge he wanted to waive extradition back to Rhode Island. He will be taken back at an undisclosed time to answer charges on his probation.
"My kids get the raw end of the deal, because I'm afraid to let them go and do anything," Shearman said.
A city ordinance prevents sex offenders from entering places like public libraries in Quincy without written permission and officials said in court, there was a special event for children in the library at the time Gardner showed up.
The Rhode Island Adult Probation and Parole agency wrote a message to the court saying, "Gardner violated the terms and conditions of his probation in that he entered and remained in a pace frequented by children which was in violation of the no contact order issued by Judge Rodgers. In addition Mr Gardner violated a city ordinance when he entered the library. Probation requests that a warrant issued to the extreme risk that the subject's behavior demonstrates."
Police eventually arrested Gardner at a homeless shelter in Roxbury.
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