The Weather Channel’s “Prospectors” star who was arrested last week on suspicion of multiple sex crimes involving children was on the run from authorities Thursday morning.
Richard Warren Fretterd posted $25,000 cash bond in Teller County but did not show up to be fitted for an ankle bracelet, as his court orders mandated, said Cmdr. Greg Couch.
About noon Thursday, authorities located Fretterd at a house at 13th Street and Colorado Avenue in Colorado Springs. He was taken to the Teller County Jail where he will be held without bond until his next court appearance.
Fretterd was a cast member on The Weather Channel’s weekly reality television show which followed several Colorado miners who work in extreme conditions, mining precious metals and gemstones.
He was arrested shortly before 1 a.m. Dec. 14 on suspicion of two counts of sexual assault of a victim under 15 by someone in a position of trust, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and one count of coercing a child to engage in sexual contact, court records show.
On Dec. 3, two girls told the Sheriff’s Office they had been repeatedly assaulted by a neighbor between 2013 and 2016. Fretterd turned himself in after detectives told him there was a warrant for his arrest.
A third girl was a victim and witness. She told authorities Fretterd gave them new vaping devices in exchange for sex acts.
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