For more than a decade, a Massachusetts man who fled his 2007 rape trial and was convicted in absentia had been living in California with a woman who did not know he was a wanted fugitive, officials said. authorities.
But the man’s hidden past surfaced Tuesday, when law enforcement officers in Danville, Calif., about 30 miles east of San Francisco, arrested the man, Tuen Kit Lee, 55 years old, known as the “bad breath rapist,” according to Massachusetts. » State police said.
Mr. Lee, who fled just before closing arguments in his trial in Quincy, Mass., lived with the woman, a flower shop owner, in her multimillion-dollar home in Diablo, a community of About 1,200 residents just outside Danville, state police said.
When arrested by police, Mr. Lee initially provided a false name, but he “ultimately confessed when asked for his real identity,” state police said. “The fingerprints confirmed his identity,” they said. “His partner, after 15 years of living together in California, never knew who he really was.”
Captain. Daniel Guarente of the Quincy Police Department said investigators were able to track down Mr. Lee after “obtaining information that he was in California and may have been in contact with members of his family and based on that information, they began investigating this case and located him in California.”
Mr. Lee was convicted in 2007 of brutally raping a waitress who worked at the restaurant his family owned in Quincy, south of Boston. State police said he was wearing a mask when he broke into her home on Feb. 1. On December 2, 2005, he held her on the ground at knifepoint, tied her to a bed and sexually assaulted her.
She was found hours later by her boyfriend, who went to her home after being unable to reach her by phone, state police said.
Investigators identified Mr. Lee as the attacker in part because his victim recognized his horrible breath, state police said. DNA evidence also linked him to the crime, state police said.
Mr Lee, who was arrested and charged with rape, was released on $100,000 bail ahead of his trial. Just before the closing arguments, he disappeared.
His lawyer at the time, Philip A. Tracy Jr., said in an interview Wednesday that Mr. Lee had been afraid to return to prison, where he had been beaten.
“He was worried, scared,” M. said,” Tracy said. “I never thought I would see him again or hear from him.”
Mr. Lee’s trial continued without him and he was convicted – but not sentenced – on rape charges which carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Investigators spent hundreds of hours searching for Mr. Lee, and his case was featured on the show “America’s Most Wanted,” state police said. Last year, authorities offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
But the trail appeared to have gone cold until earlier this year, when “new information opened the case,” state police said, without elaborating.
Authorities said Mr. Lee would now be returned to Massachusetts for sentencing, after nearly 17 years on the run.
“There are violent offenders who believe they can commit crimes without being held accountable for their actions,” said Sean LoPiccolo, acting commander of a U.S. Marshals Service task force that helped capture Mr. Lee, said in a statement. The arrest, Mr. LoPiccolo said, “I hope it brings peace of mind to the victim and his family.”