A convicted rapist who fled throughout his 2007 trial in Massachusetts and evaded seize for over 16 years was arrested in California on Tuesday, regulation enforcement officers mentioned.
Tuen Equipment Lee, 55, was convicted by a Norfolk Superior Court docket jury of raping and critically injuring a waitress after breaking into her household’s dwelling in Quincy, Mass., in 2005, in response to the Massachusetts State Police.
He wore a masks and sexually assaulted the lady at knifepoint.
The sufferer acknowledged her attacker due to his foul breath, police mentioned, and he was quickly dubbed the “Dangerous Breath Rapist” in native media.
Throughout his trial, Lee posted $100,000 bail and fled, police mentioned. He was convicted in absentia and would have confronted a attainable sentence of life in jail.
Regulation enforcement officers believed Lee had left the state, however had been unable to find him till they developed data that he lived in Diablo, a small city in Northern California, in response to a press launch from the U.S. Marshals Service.
Police in close by Danville appeared into the leads, and officers from Massachusetts quickly arrived to arrest Lee.
The Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Process Pressure of the Marshals Service, a bunch that companions with federal, state and native regulation enforcement companies to “find and apprehend essentially the most harmful fugitives and help in excessive profile investigations,” was credited with coordinating the arrest.
“There are violent offenders on the market who imagine they will commit crimes and never be held accountable for his or her actions,” mentioned Sean LoPiccolo, commander of the duty drive. “Tuen Lee was on the run for greater than 16 years,” he mentioned, and the arrest “hopefully brings peace of thoughts to the sufferer and her household.”
