DENVER—A man who fled Colorado during his trial on sex assault on a child has been caught by the U.S. Marshals Service in Detroit.
Richard Heeringa, 56, fled the state in April 2010 just before a Douglas County jury delivered a guilty verdict on 17 counts of sexual assault. He faces up to 596 years to life in prison on that conviction at sentencing in Douglas County once extradited from Michigan.
Heeringa was convicted of sexually abusing a girl over three years beginning when she was 12. He was caught Saturday after a citizen recognized him from a picture on America’s Most Wanted.
Denver U.S. Marshals Service fugitive task force supervisor Charles Ahmad says Heeringa had been living under the assumed name Tim Thurman, was working in construction and living in a windowless room in a basement. He also talked about martial arts, which fit known interests of Heeringa, Ahmad said.
Ahmad said the marshals followed up several leads since Heeringa fled, including information that he was overseas.
“He was completely shocked,” Ahmad said. “He had no indication that we were on to him.”
Authorities said they placed Heeringa on the most wanted list out of concern that Heeringa would sexually assault other girls and showed no regard for fleeing despite his $250,000 bond that was secured by his mother’s property in Michigan.
His mother, Eleanor Heeringa of Kalamazoo, Mich., said she kept the properties after she paid bond through savings and refinancing properties that she owns. She said construction work done by her son helped increase the value of those properties.
“He’s truly a good person,” she said by phone. “I know you probably won’t believe that, but he is. He is innocent.”
The marshals said in a statement that Heeringa had served a 12 year prison sentence in Michigan for sexual assault and moved to Colorado in 2005, about a year after his release.
Heeringa began living with a single mother and her daughter and began sexually assaulting the daughter until January 2008, when the child came forward with allegations, according to the marshals.
Heeringa also faces two charges of sexual assault on a child involving girls ages 14 and 15 in Jefferson County, district attorney spokeswoman Pam Russell said.
Those cases involve alleged inappropriate touching done under the guise of Heeringa teaching martial arts to the girls at a home where Heeringa was refinishing a basement in in 2006, according to an affidavit.
Ahmad said follow up investigation is under way to determine where Heeringa lived the past 18 months, whether he had any help while on the run, and whether there are more victims.
