Fugitive Doctor Ronald Fischer Arrested on Sailboat After 21 Years

U.S. Marshals and Coast Guard personnel boarded the 56-foot sailboat The Silver Lining about an hour offshore earlier this week and arrested Ronald Fischer without incident. The vessel was registered under the alias Richard Graydon.

Fischer, a former Rhode Island doctor, had been a fugitive for 21 years. Fischer disappeared midway through his 2005 trial on a first-degree sexual assault charge stemming from a 2003 accusation that he raped a woman aboard his boat the Lion King. He was convicted in absentia and later faced additional counts of failure to appear and flight to avoid prosecution.

Investigators acted on a credible tip that placed Fischer in New York waters. A search of his residence turned up books on evading law enforcement. He had used an onion router to mask his internet activity, and agents recovered emails with relatives who allegedly helped him stay hidden.

The FBI matched fingerprints taken by the Marshals Service to the man on trial in Rhode Island two decades earlier. Multiple agencies took part in the operation, including the Rhode Island Violent Fugitive Task Force, the Marshals Service New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force, the U.S. Marshals Service for the Southern District of New York, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the FBI.

Fischer appeared before a Manhattan court on Friday. He was remanded into custody and waived extradition.

Marshal for the District of Rhode Island. The victim, Cheryl Gingerich, told NBC 10 she had lived in fear of seeing Fischer again. The assault left her afraid to leave her home and forced her to abandon her career as an English professor.