Rapist with bad breath: Massachusetts refugee caught after 16 years on the run

WARNING: This story deals with sexual offenses and may be disturbing.

A fugitive known as the “bad breath rapist” was arrested in the San Francisco Bay Area more than 16 years after he escaped after being convicted of sexually assaulting a co-worker in Massachusetts, authorities said this week.

Tuen Kit Lee was found guilty in a 2007 trial of kidnapping the young woman in her home in Quincy, south of Boston, and raping her at knifepoint, the United States Marshals Service said Tuesday. He fled before he was due to be sentenced.

Authorities kept the case alive in the media, and Lee’s photo appeared several times on the television show “America’s Most Wanted.”

After pictures of a man believed to be Lee appeared on social media, investigators were able to trace him back to Contra Costa County, California, the service said.

U.S. Marshals and police arrested Lee on Tuesday after they saw him and a woman leaving a “multimillion-dollar residence” near Danville, east of Oakland, officials said.

After his car was stopped, Lee initially gave a false name but confessed when asked about his real identity, authorities said. He was later identified using his fingerprints.

“His partner did not know who he really was despite their 15-year relationship in California,” said a statement from the Massachusetts State Police.

According to investigators, Lee broke into the victim’s home in Massachusetts on February 2, 2005 and raped her.

“He was eventually identified by his DNA and his terrible breath, earning him the nickname ‘The Bad Breath Rapist,'” police said.

Lee was being held by police in California, awaiting his scheduled extradition to Massachusetts.