Massachusetts rape suspect wanted for decades-old crimes captured after police chase in Los Angeles

A suspected serial rapist from Massachusetts accused of raping two women at gunpoint 35 years ago led California law enforcement officers in Los Angeles County on a car chase Thursday before being taken into custody.

Stephen Paul Gale, 71, was driving a Lincoln SUV while trying to get away from authorities before surrendering around 5:30 p.m, a Los Angeles Police Department source told Fox News Digital. 

Gale was identified and charged with four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping and one count of armed robbery of two women at a convenience store in Framingham, Massachusetts, near Boston, in 1989. 

Authorities publicly identified him in connection with the crimes in May.

He lived in several other states, used aliases and previously had ties to organized crime, but efforts so far to locate him have been unsuccessful, Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said at the time.