Connecticut rapist, on the run since 1976, arrested in Clearwater, FL
One Valentine’s Day evening nearly a half-century ago, a young woman was home alone in a small Connecticut town when she was confronted by a masked man with a gun. He asked where her father was and took her money, then tied her up, taped her eyes shut, dragged her outside and repeatedly raped her.
Douglas E. Bennett, who worked for the victim’s father, was convicted of the crime in 1975 and ordered to serve between nine and 18 years in prison. But while still out on bail, Bennett disappeared.
This week, police found him in Clearwater. Bennett, 76, has apparently been living a quiet life for decades under an assumed name, according to federal officials. His true identity was revealed after investigators noticed a peculiarity in a passport application he submitted in 2016.
He was stopped and detained Wednesday as he left his Clearwater home. Photographs and fingerprints confirmed it was Bennett. He was later booked in the Pinellas County Jail. A federal criminal complaint recounts a detailed investigation. It began with a passport renewal application that authorities said Bennett submitted in July 2016 under an alias he’d been using for decades, according to the complaint.
full article at:
https://www.tampabay.com/news/crime/2020/11/05/connecticut-rapist-on-the-run-since-1976-arrested-in-clearwater/
Douglas E. Bennett, left, appears in a jail booking photo taken when he was arrested in 1974 in a Connecticut rape case.
Passport photos taken in 1982, middle, and 2016, right, show an individual that federal officials say is also Bennett.
These images were included in a federal criminal complaint accusing Bennett of passport fraud and identity theft.
[ U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida ]
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