A convicted murderer who absconded from his parole in 1980 was arrested this week in Monrovia, authorities said.
Prior to his arrest Sunday by parole agents outside a Monrovia Home Depot store, Richard Bradford, 60, was living in Pasadena and ran a drug rehabilitation facility in town called the Eaton Canyon Treatment Center, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation officials said in a written statement on the agency’s blog, CDCR Today. But he was living under the assumed name James Edward Heard.
Bradford received a life sentence in prison at age 18 in 1971 for a fatal shooting and robbery, according to the CDCR. The slaying took place in Santa Clara County, CDCR spokesman Luis Patino said. He declined further comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
Bradford was paroled from prison in December of 1978, but fled from his parole supervision less than two years later in September of 1980, officials said.
He was wanted ever since, according to the CDCR, and in March of 2010, the California Parole Apprehension Team renewed an investigation into Bradford’s whereabouts.
Bradford’s attorney contacted officials in 2011 to negotiate his client’s surrender, but Bradford never turned himself in.
CPAT agents carrying out a surveillance operation Sunday spotted Bradford and his wife exiting their home, and followed them to a Home Depot store in Monrovia where they were arrested without a struggle, officials said. Bradford’s wife was arrested on suspicion of being a convicted felon in possession of pepper spray.
Documents under the names of Bradford and Heard were found at his home, aurthorities added, and his identity was confirmed via his fingerprints.
It was determined that Bradford had obtained a false birth certificate and social security card while still imprisoned in 1977 and 1978, officials said.
“Bradford began using the name James Heard off and on beginning in the mid-1980s, and by 1992 Richard Bradford had disappeared on paper,” according to the CDCR statement.
He had kept a low profile by keeping his financial assets and property in a trust, with very little activity tied to the name James Heard, officials added.