A man wanted for months in a series of sexual assaults in the Massachusetts area over 30 years ago was dramatically arrested at the end of a police chase outside a Los Angeles hospital Thursday.
Patrol cars were behind the driver as he circled the Westchester neighborhood for nearly an hour, before getting on the popular I-405 highway and exiting in Westwood.
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Officers used spike strips to disable the vehicle, but the driver continued until he pulled into the Westwood Medical Plaza roundabout, where any possible exit route was blocked off.
The driver surrendered while news helicopters circled ahead, capturing the arrest. Police in Los Angeles did not release his name, but told NBC Los Angeles he was accused of multiple sexual assaults and is believed to have ties to the Boston area.
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The Middlesex District Attorney's Office confirmed Friday the suspect was Stephen Paul Gale.
Gale will have to appear in a California court before he's brought back to Massachusetts, the district attorney's office said.
In Massachusetts, the 71-year-old Gale is accused of raping two women at gunpoint in a women's clothing store in Framingham more than 30 years ago.
He was identified through forensic genealogy as the person who held up the Hit or Miss store as it was opening on Dec. 27, 1989, the district attorney said in May.
Prior to his arrest in Los Angeles, Gale was indicted on four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping and one of armed robbery and was wanted for arrest. Investigators have also said they were looking into whether other incidents in the Greater Boston area in 1989 were tied to the crimes Gale is accused of.
"You think about the lives that have been lived by the two women affected by this incident … we do not stop working on these cases, they are never closed, and we do not forget what people came into this county and did," Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said at a news conference in May, standing in front of police renderings and a driver's license photo of Gale.
Prosecutors noted that Gale is entitled to a rendition hearing before being returned to Massachusetts.
"On behalf of the Framingham Police Department, I would first like to commend the victims in this case for their strength and tenacity and for the courage they have shown throughout this investigation," Chief Lester Baker said in a statement shared Friday by Ryan's office. "This puts us one step closer to bringing justice for the victims in this horrific case."
