In 2005, a 36-year-old man worked at his family’s restaurant. In 2007, he was on trial for breaking into a young woman’s home. The twenty-something woman worked as a server at his family’s restaurant.
Once inside the woman’s apartment, he attacked her with a knife, gagged her, bound her to her bed with plastic ties, sexually assaulted her, robbed her, and then left. He wore a mask to hide his identity. But she recognized his familiar ‘bad breath.’ DNA also proved he’d been her attacker.
He fled before the trial ended, forfeiting his $100,000 bail. The jury convicted him in absentia. America’s Most Wanted featured his case, and law enforcement never stopped looking for him.
The fugitive had been hiding in a wealthy neighborhood in California on the opposite side of the US. For ten years, he withheld personal information from his wealthy girlfriend, who he lived with. Seventeen years after the assault, local law enforcement waited outside the girlfriend’s multi-million-dollar home to follow a lead they’d received. When they pulled over the vehicle with the man and his girlfriend inside, he admitted who he was—a different name than she knew him as. Learning about her boyfriend’s dark history came as a surprise to the girlfriend.
Regarding this case, a representative from the Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force said,
“There are violent offenders out there who believe they can commit crimes and not be held accountable for their actions.”
At his sentencing, all those years later, the victim had the district attorney read her victim impact statement, as she could not be in the same room as her assailant. In part, she said,
“I still wake up trembling in the middle of the night. I haven't gotten rid of this devastating nightmare.”
A judge sentenced him to 18-20 years in prison for aggravated rape, five years of probation after his release for kidnapping and assault. His probation includes a GPS monitor, no contact with the victim, sex offender treatment, and register as a sex offender.
Source: US Marshals Service, New York Post, NPR, The Patriot Ledger
All data and information provided is for information and research purposes only and not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. Criminal cases may have been appealed or verdicts overturned since I researched the case. All information is provided on an as-is basis.
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