Weymouth Sex Offender Found in Quincy Library Sent Back to Prison

WEYMOUTH, MA — A Level 3 sex offender from Weymouth is will remain in prison for another year.

Friday, Richard Gardner admitted that he violated the terms of his probation by entering a library in Quincy. A Kent County Superior Court judge sentenced him to a year behind bars, WBZ reported.

In 1989, Gardner was convicted of rape of a child with force, indecent assault and battery on a child 14 or younger, and rape and abuse of a child. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In Rhode Island, he was sentenced to 190 years in prison for indecent assault and battery on a child 14 or younger, but received a shorter sentence upon appeal in 1993.

Gardner was released from prison Oct. 3. Three days later, the Weymouth Police Department notified residents that Gardner had moved to Chandler Street following a lengthy stay in prison. That weekend, Gardner received a court summons after entering the library, violating a Quincy city ordinance that forbids sex offenders from entering schools, libraries, or daycare centers unless given written permission by the school administration, library administration, or daycare center owner.

The Plymouth County District Attorney's office said that they didn't civilly commit Gardner in a mental institution due to human error. Prosecutors could have argued to civilly commit him due to his sex offender status. He also learned that he had to leave Weymouth because his probation officer moved to the Suffolk County courts.

Gardner was arrested again in at a South Boston shelter in mid-October on a warrant out of Rhode Island. He has been held without bail since.

Image via Mass. Sex Offender Registry