A fugitive from Mass. nicknamed 'bad breath rapist' arrested in California after 17 years on the run – Boston News, Weather, Sports

A Massachusetts fugitive nicknamed the “bad breath rapist” was arrested Tuesday in California, 17 years after fleeing his trial in 2007 for breaking into a co-worker's home and raped her in 2005, police said.

Tuen Lee was arrested in Diablo, Calif., by Danville police after leaving a home and getting into a vehicle with a woman, according to a news release from Massachusetts State Police. He initially gave police a false name, but later confessed when police asked him what his real identity was, police said.

On Feb. 2, 2005, Lee broke into a co-worker's home in Quincy and raped her, before detectives quickly identified and arrested him, police said. He was identified using his DNA and his “horrible breath,” earning him the nickname “bad breath rapist,” police said.

His case went to trial in Norfolk Superior Court and the jury reached a guilty verdict after two days of deliberations, police said. However, Lee left the state and was on the run for years.

The Metropolitan Violent Fugitive Apprehension Team and Quincy police detectives spent “hundreds of hours” trying to find Lee, police said.

Earlier this year, investigators connected Lee to an address in Diablo, California — a multimillion-dollar home owned by a woman who owned a flower shop, police said. Investigators also found images on social media of a man they believed to be Lee.

When officers arrested Lee on Tuesday, his fingerprints confirmed his identity, police said.

“His partner, after 15 years of living together in California, never knew who he really was,” police said in the press release.

Lee was detained in California before being brought to Massachusetts.

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