“Rapist with bad breath” was on the run for 16 years and was found and arrested in the East Bay

A fugitive who was tried for sexual assault in Massachusetts nearly 17 years ago was recently arrested by U.S. Marshals in the East Bay, where he had apparently been staying for some time.

Tuen Kit “Dickie” Lee, 55, who was dubbed the “bad breath rapist” during the investigation into the assault two decades ago, was arrested Tuesday in Diablo, Calif. – a small, fairly affluent community near Danville. The U.S. Marshals Service’s Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force made the arrest with assistance from the Marshals Service’s Massachusetts Fugitive Task Force, the Massachusetts State Police and the Quincy (Mass.) Police Department.

Danville police also participated in the investigation, which revealed that Lee had been in the area, but no further information about him or the people he may have been with was released.

Lee originally went on trial in 2007 for the 2005 kidnapping and rape of a young woman. The victim accused Lee of breaking into her Quincy, Massachusetts, home while she was sleeping, tying her to her bed with zip ties, and attacking her at knifepoint while wearing a mask for camouflage. Lee’s nickname gained traction in the press because the victim recognized his foul breath from the Kagawa restaurant where she worked and which was owned by Lee’s family.

Lee fled his trial in Massachusetts despite being free on $100,000 bail, and investigators long believed he had fled the state. But it was only recently, nearly 17 years later, that investigators got a lead on his whereabouts here in the Bay Area. Last fall, a $10,000 reward was offered for information leading to his capture.

Lee was convicted in absentia by a Massachusetts jury, but never served his sentence.

“I am very grateful to the Massachusetts State Police Fugitive Unit and the men and women of the U.S. Marshals Service who made this arrest possible,” Quincy Police Chief Mark Kennedy said in a statement.

“There are violent offenders who believe they can commit crimes without being held accountable for their actions,” said Chief Inspector Sean LoPiccolo, deputy chief of the Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force. “Tuen Lee was on the run for more than 16 years and the tireless commitment of law enforcement to find and apprehend him will hopefully bring peace of mind to the victim and her family.”

Established in 2002, the Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force has partnership agreements with over 53 federal, state and local agencies that help it track down fugitive offenders in the most violent cases.