Massachusetts refugee dubbed ‘rapist with bad breath’ arrested in California after 16 years on the loose

DANVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A fugitive known as the “bad breath rapist” has been arrested in the San Francisco Bay Area more than 16 years after he fled. He was previously 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 US Marshals Service said on 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 images of a man believed to be Lee appeared on social media, investigators were able to track him to Contra Costa County, California, the agency said.

U.S. marshals and police officers arrested Lee on Tuesday after they saw him and a woman leaving a “million-dollar home” near Danville, east of Oakland, officials said. After his car was stopped, Lee initially gave a false name but confessed when asked his real identity, authorities said. He was later identified by 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.

Investigators said Lee broke into the victim’s Massachusetts home on February 2, 2005 and raped her.

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

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

It was not known on Wednesday whether he has a lawyer who could comment on his case.