Parolee Caught After 32 Years: Opened Drug Rehabilitation Center (VIDEO)
A parolee has been discovered in California more than 32 years after he first disappeared.
Richard Bradford was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder. But luck was on his side and in 1978 Bradford was released on parole. Two years later however, in 1980, Bradford skipped out on his parole.
The Department of Corrections was aware that Bradford had disappeared, but it was not until 2010 that an investigation was launched into his disappearance, according to the Huffington Post. On Sunday, after 32 years, Bradford and his and his wife were arrested.
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The man had been living under the false identity of James Edward Heard, according to reports. Heard was the owner of several properties in the Pasadena area, including a drug rehabilitation facility, authorities said. To mask his identity, he used credit cards that had been issued under the business name and also used a trust to control the company.
Bradford was discovered after fingerprints on Heard's license, taken by the Department of Motor Vehicles, matched those from Bradford's prison record.
It appears that Bradford orchestrated his false identity while he was still in prison. He created a false birth certificate with the name of James Edward Heard in Alameda County in 1977, one year before his parole release. In 1978, a social security card was issued to him, also before his release from jail.
Bradford began going by the name of Heard in 1980, according to the Associated Press, and by 1992 all traces of him had disappeared on paper. While officials are nearly certain that Heard is in fact Bradford, it is not clear whether his wife knew of both identities; she was arrested for being a "felon in possession of pepper spray," AP stated.
