Connecticut rapist, 76, who fled state before prison sentence and was on the run for 44 years is arrested in Florida for using identity of five-year-old boy who died in 1945

Douglas Edward Bennett, 76, was arrested on Wednesday at his Clearwater, Florida, home 

A convicted rapist has been arrested in Florida more than 44 years after skipping out on his Connecticut prison sentence and assuming the identity of a five-year-old boy who died in 1945, authorities said.

Douglas Bennett, 76, was arrested on Wednesday at his Clearwater home and charged with passport fraud and aggravated identity theft. 

He faces up to 12 years in federal prison, which would be served before any state sentence. 

A warrant for his arrest was still active from Connecticut.

According to a criminal complaint, Bennett submitted a passport application in July 2016 using the name, date of birth and Social Security number of a person who was born in 1940 and died in 1945. 

Emergency contact information in the application led investigators to suspect Bennett's true identity, which they confirmed with fingerprints after his arrest, the complaint said.

Court documents only give the initials 'G.E.' when referencing the alias, but property records obtained by the Tampa Bay Times show that the Clearwater home listed as Bennett’s address is owned by a Gordon D. Ewen. 

Ewen bought the home at 1624 Chateau Drive in 1994, according to records.

In his passport renewal application, Bennett listed a sister, identified in the complaint by the initials 'L.A.' 

Bennett is seen above being booked into jail in Pinellas County, Florida, after his arrest. Bennett was arrested after he was flagged by federal authorities for allegedly using an assumed identity to apply for a new passport.

According to authorities, Bennett is a fugitive from justice. In 1976, he fled Connecticut before he was set to begin a prison sentence for the rape of a teenage girl

According to the US Attorney's Office, the photo on the far left is Bennett's booking photo from his 1974 arrest for raping a teenage girl in Connecticut. The middle image is a passport photo that was submitted in January 1982. The far right image shows a photo submitted in 2016. The middle and far right photo were allegedly submitted using the name Gordon D. Ewen, who was born in 1940 and died in 1945

The passport officials later discovered that 'L.A.' used to be known as 'L. Bennett' and that Douglas Bennett was her brother. 

Bennett was convicted in 1975 by a Connecticut jury of robbery, kidnapping, sexual contact, rape and deviate sexual intercourse. 

He was sentenced to nine to 18 years in prison but remained free on bail while he appealed. 

After losing his appeal, records showed Bennett never turned himself in. 

Bennett assumed the fraudulent identity in 1977 and remained a fugitive for more than 40 years, the complaint said.

The rape occurred in February 1974 in Wethersfield, Connecticut, according to a 1976 appeal ruling, which also said Bennett lived in Granby, Massachusetts, and had worked for the victim's father. 

Bennett was carrying a handgun and wearing a mask when he broke into the home of a woman who was alone.

At the time, Bennett claimed he was innocent. His lawyer at the time was F. Lee Bailey , the famed criminal defense attorney who also represented OJ Simpson during his murder trial. Bailey and Simpson are seen above in June 1995

Bennett was looking for the woman’s father who supposedly owed him money.

When he approached the woman, he robbed her of cash, tied her hands behind her back, covered her eyes with tape, dragged her outside, took off her clothes, and raped her for over an hour.

At the time, Bennett claimed he was innocent. His lawyer at the time was F. Lee Bailey, the famed criminal defense attorney who also represented OJ Simpson during his murder trial, according to The Hartford Courant. 

Bennett is said to have once worked as a women’s drama instructor at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. 

Bennett's attorney, Nicole Hardin, declined to comment on the case.

'I really appreciate what Florida and the feds did to resolve this 46-year-old case,' Wethersfield Police Chief James Cetran told News 8 on Thursday. 

'Douglas Bennett was convicted of a very heinous crime against a teenage girl and deserves to serve his sentence.'