Most-Wanted Fugitive Secretly Worked as Biotech Executive
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- Ronald Fischer, 70, a former anesthesiologist, was arrested last week by federal and Rhode Island authorities after 20 years as a fugitive, having disappeared in 2005 while on trial for first-degree sexual assault.
- U.S. Marshals tracked Fischer to a 56-foot sailboat cruising off the coast of New Jersey, where the vessel was registered under the name "Richard Graydon" — an alias Fischer had used.
- Immix Biopharma, a Los Angeles-based biotech company, hired a "Richard Graydon" — a doctor and seasoned drug development executive — as its new chief medical officer last March, the same alias linked to Fischer.
- The overlap between the boat's registered name and Immix's new hire suggests Fischer had been living openly under his "Richard Graydon" identity while remaining a fugitive from a 2005 sexual assault trial.
- Fischer's case sat on Rhode Island's most-wanted fugitive list for two decades before last week's arrest ended the manhunt.
Why it matters: A 20-year fugitive appears to have held a senior role at a drug development company under an alias, exposing a potential gap in executive vetting at Immix Biopharma — which hired its chief medical officer in March without apparently flagging the alias's link to a convicted fugitive.
