‘Bad Breath Rapist’ caught after 16 years on the run

A sexual predator known as the “Bad Breath Rapist” was found in a multimillion-dollar home nearly 17 years after he went on the run during trial.

A convicted predator known as the “Bad Breath Rapist” has been caught after he fled his trial 16 years ago.

Tuen Lee broke into the home of a waitress who worked at his family’s restaurant in Boston on February 2, 2005.

He held her at knifepoint, ziptied her hands and brutally raped her. He was wearing a ski mask but his victim was able to identify him as she recognised the smell of her boss’s horrendous halitosis.

DNA evidence also tied him to the crime.

Lee was charged with rape and released on a AU$150,456) cash bail before his trial. However, he fled before his trial reached closing arguments in 2007.

Tuen Lee was on the run for 16 years.

He had already fled the state by the time the jury delivered the guilty verdict.

Lee was arrested on the other side of the country, in a wealthy Californian community where he’d been living for more than a decade with his flower shop owner girlfriend who had no clue about his vicious past, according to Massachusetts State Police.

Authorities hunted for the funky-mouthed fugitive for years – and Lee was even featured on an episode of America’s Most Wanted.

Earlier this year, investigators got a break in the case when they looked into a multimillion-dollar home owned by a shop owner in Diablo, California, the official statement read.

Officers watched Lee and the unidentified woman, whom they described as a longtime “companion,” leave the home on Tuesday, and pulled them over in a traffic stop.

Tuen Lee is seen in the custody of US Marshals. Picture: US Marshals

Lee was arrested in California. Picture: US Marshals

Lee initially gave a fake name, but later admitted to his true identity, which was confirmed via fingerprints.

“His female companion, after 15 years of being together in California, never knew who he really was,” the state police said.

Lee is now being transported to the Danville Police Department for booking. His transfer to Massachusetts is pending.

“There are violent offenders out there who believe they can commit crimes and not be held accountable for their actions,” said Chief Inspector Sean LoPiccolo, the head of the US Marshals Service Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force.

“Tuen Lee was on the run for more than 16 years and the unwavering dedication by law enforcement to locate and arrest him hopefully brings peace of mind to the victim and her family,” he added.

Lee now faces life in prison.

- With New York Post

Originally published as ‘Bad Breath Rapist’ caught after 16 years on the run