Arizona Inmate Convicted in Prison Hostage Standoff

An inmate who took two guards hostage in a watchtower last year in one of the nation’s longest prison hostage standoffs was convicted Wednesday on 19 charges, including sexual assault.

Ricky Wassenaar, 42, was convicted of kidnapping, aggravated assault and sexual assault against a female guard who was held hostage for 15 days. He was acquitted on one count, attempted second-degree murder.

Following the reading of the verdicts in Maricopa County Superior Court, Wassenaar repeatedly said, “Worst verdicts I ever heard.”

During the trial, Wassenaar had particularly disputed the claims of sexual assault against guard Lois Fraley.

Fraley had her head down during much of the count-by-count verdict announcement, but she grinned when the jury foreman read the sexual assault verdict.

“He is out of my mind,” Fraley said afterward. “He is not holding me hostage anymore.” She said she planned to go back to being a guard.

“It is a beautiful day,” she said. “Justice has been served.”

Wassenaar is scheduled to be sentenced June 3. He faces as many as 16 life sentences.

“Before [the standoff] I had an out date of 2026,” Wassenaar said in a phone interview Wednesday evening. “Now I’ll probably have an out date of 2426. I accepted that risk, but I didn’t expect to be charged with things that I didn’t do. You wouldn’t think I would be that naive.”