Most-Wanted Fugitive Secretly Worked As LA Biotech Executive Under Fake Name: Reports

LOS ANGELES, CA — A fugitive convicted of sexual assault after fleeing his Rhode Island trial over 20 years ago appears to have been working as an executive at a Los Angeles biotechnology company under a fake identity before he was captured by authorities on his yacht last week, according to reports.

Ronald L. Fischer, 70, a former anesthesiologist, was accused of raping a woman aboard his yacht in 2003 in Rhode Island. He fled the state just before closing arguments began in his trial two years later. he was convicted in absentia of first-degree sexual assault, the New York Times reported.

Earlier this month, he was taken into custody aboard a 56-foot sailboat named Silver Lining off the coast of New Jersey, the U.S. Marshals Service announced July 16.

Investigators said the vessel was registered under the name Richard Graydon, one of more than a dozen aliases Fischer had used since he first went on the run, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

He was one of Rhode Island's most wanted fugitives. The state police there described him as "a master yachtsman, a world traveler, and internationally connected."

He had been featured several times on "America's Most Wanted."

Under the Graydon name, Fischer worked as chief medical officer at West Los Angeles-based Immix Biopharma, KTLA reported.

The company this week disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission that it had terminated Richard Graydon’s employment on July 17 — just four days after Fisher's capture — “for reasons unrelated to his activities at the company," the Los Angeles Times reported.

A law firm representing Immix investors on Tuesday said it was investigating whether the company broke federal securities laws.

"Media coverage revealed that an executive serving at Immix under the alias 'Richard Graydon' was allegedly Ronald Fischer, a top fugitive wanted in Rhode Island who was operating under an assumed identity," reads a news release from the firm.