Massachusetts fugitive dubbed the ‘bad breath rapist’ captured in California after 16 years at large

DANVILLE, California — A fugitive dubbed the “bad breath rapist” has been arrested in the San Francisco Bay Area, more than 16 years after he fled following his conviction for sexually assaulting a co-worker in Massachusetts, authorities said this week.

Tuen Kit Lee was found guilty at a 2007 trial for kidnapping and raping the young woman at knifepoint in her home in Quincy, south of Boston, the US Marshals Service said in a statement on Tuesday. He went on the run before he was sentenced.

Officials kept the case alive in the media, and Lee’s photo appeared several times on TV’s “America’s Most Wanted.” After images surfaced on social media of a man believed to be Lee, investigators were able to track him to Contra Costa County in California, the agency said.

U.S. Marshals and police officers arrested Lee Tuesday after seeing him and a woman leaving a “million-dollar home” near Danville, just east of Oakland, officials said. After his car was pulled over, Lee initially gave a false name, but confessed when pressed about his true identity, authorities said. He was later identified through fingerprints.

“His female companion never knew who he really was after 15 years together in California,” a statement from the Massachusetts State Police said.

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

“He was eventually identified through DNA and his horrible breath, earning the nickname “The Bad Breath Rapist,” the state police statement said.

Lee was being held by police in California pending his expected transfer to Massachusetts.

It was not known Wednesday whether he has an attorney who could comment on his case.