The U.S. Marshals Service has finally apprehended a man who spent more than two decades on the run, after intercepting his boat during a daring sea raid. The agency said in a statement on Wednesday that Ronald L. Fischer was in custody after its agents, working with the FBI, tracked him to a 56-foot sailing vessel about an hour off the coast of New York. Fischer had become one of Rhode Island’s most-wanted fugitives after absconding ahead of a criminal trial where a judge later found him guilty in absentia of serious sexual assault. He remained wanted for failing to appear before the court and for fleeing prosecution. “This arrest demonstrates that time does not erase accountability,” Wing Chau, a U.S. Marshal in Rhode Island, said. “For more than twenty years Ronald Fischer believed he had successfully escaped justice,” he went on. Chau added that “we hope today’s arrest brings a measure of justice and long-awaited closure to the victim and everyone impacted by these crimes.”
