CAPTURE REPORT
October 3, 2001
The man with 27 aliases was using a 28th,
but that couldn’t fool the viewers of
America’s Most Wanted: America Fights
Back. Detectives from the Boston (MA) Police
Department Major Case squad picked up Richard
Peter Gilliland this morning at a Boston bus
station. Gilliland’s identification and
capture is a direct result of his profile
on the television show America’s Most
Wanted: America Fights Back and his posting
on the FBI Milwaukee website. Gilliland is
the show’s 683rd capture.
Gilliland has been on the run since a 1997
incident, when Gilliland, while employed as
a minister of a church in West Allis, Wisconsin,
molested a 17-year-old boy. Gilliland is a
registered sex offender in at least three
other states - Arizona, California and Washington.
He’s facing charges in Seattle, Washington
and Arizona, as well as Wisconsin.
Gilliland remained elusive from authorities
with the help of 27 aliases he had created.
Police say he also used at least six different
birth dates. They say that he would abuse
his position as an ordained minister in the
Universal Life Church to entice and molest
children.
Gilliland was the Wisconsin fugitive on the
America’s Most Wanted: America Fights
Back live episode that aired on November 18,
2000. He was only on the air for about 8 seconds,
but that was all it took.
Nearly a year after his airing, an employee
of a Boston-area homeless shelter recognized
a new resident as one that he had seen before
on AMW. The anonymous tipster tried to find
Gilliland’s mug shot at AMW.COM but was
unable. He then scoured the FBI website and
found the man he had seen on the show, Richard
Gilliland, on the FBI’s website out of
Milwaukee, WI. On the afternoon of Tuesday,
October 2, 2001, the tipster phoned in his
tip to the Milwaukee Field Office of the FBI
that Gilliland looked like a man who frequented
the homeless shelter. When Boston Police detectives
arrived at the homeless shelter, Gilliland
was gone. But, the tipster said that he was
known to frequent the South Charles bus depot
in Boston.
Authorities arrived at the bus station this
morning. They approached a man resembling
Gilliland, but he identified himself as Steven
Radciewicz, a new name not on the list of
27 aliases. After further questioning, Gilliland
admitted his true identity. Cops say that
when Gilliland was arrested he had multiple
phony licenses, including one with a photo
of himself in a priest’s collar. Cops
say that he had stolen an electric wheelchair
and was acting the part of an invalid. They
also found a ticket in his pocket for a bus
that was heading out that morning to South
Carolina. Police say that when he was arrested,
Gilliland was in the company of an 18-year-old
male.
Gilliland is in custody in Boston, MA. He
has waived extradition rights and will first
be sent to Seattle, Washington to face charges
of child enticement and molestation. Gilliland
will eventually be tried in at least three
states for similar charges.
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