Convicted rapist spent decades hiding, 22 years for ID theft

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — A convicted rapist who hid in Florida for more than 40 years after skipping out on his Connecticut prison sentence has been sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for assuming a stolen identity. Court records show 77-year-old Douglas Bennett was sentenced Friday in Tampa federal court. He pleaded guilty in September to passport fraud, aggravated identity theft and possessing firearms as a convicted felon. A criminal complaint says Bennett submitted a passport application in 2016 using the name, date of birth and Social Security number of a person who was born in 1940 and died in 1945. The complaint says emergency contact information in the application led investigators to discover Bennett’s true identity, which they confirmed with fingerprints.