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Convicted Rapist Who Fled Country During Trial Taken Into Custody In Northern Westchester

A visit to a deli on a red bicycle led to the arrest by Westchester County Police detectives of a man who fled from a rape trial 30 years ago.

Nelson Gustavo Caceres

Nelson Gustavo Caceres

Photo Credit: Westchester County Police

Nelson Gustavo Caceres, 51, was arrested  Friday, July 5, and remanded back to the County Jail in Valhalla after Westchester County detectives tracked him to the deli in Mount Kisco following an intensive investigation, said Kieran O'Leary, spokesman for the Westchester County Police.

Caceres was convicted of attempted rape and sentenced in absentia in 1989 to five to 15 years in state prison. In addition to that sentence, he currently faces a charge of bail jumping, O'Leary said.

He was originally arrested by the Mount Kisco Police Department in 1988 after he allegedly dragged a woman into a wooded area near East Main Street and North Bedford Road and sexually assaulted her, O'Leary added.

The victim met him earlier in the evening and reported that he became enraged when she would not go back to his residence.

Caceres was indicted in 1988 and was free on bail. He fled during his 1989 trial.

He was nabbed after detectives from the Warrant-Fugitive Unit recently developed information that Caceres, a Guatemalan national, was possibly back in Mount Kisco.

Detectives have had an open case for the last three decades on Caceres and had determined in the 1990s that he was likely back in Guatemala. 

During a recent case review, detectives determined that Caceres had possibly returned recently to Mount Kisco, O'Leary said.

To help locate Caceres, detectives conducted multiple interviews in the village and set up surveillance at several locations in recent days, O'Leary said.

Their investigation found that a person thought to be Caceres frequented a local deli and was riding a red bicycle. On Friday night, officers observed the red bicycle chained to a tree near the deli. They took Caceres into custody without incident a short time later when he came to retrieve the bicycle.

“We received a good deal of cooperation in the Mount Kisco community during this investigation and are grateful for the public’s assistance,” Westchester County Police Commissioner Thomas A. Gleason said. “Mr. Caceres will now serve the sentence that was handed down three decades ago and the victim in this incident will receive the justice she deserves.”

Gleason commended the Warrant-Fugitive Unit for its work in this case and noted that it never closes out open warrant cases no matter how many years have passed.

“This open warrant has been investigated on a regular basis for the last 30 years,” Gleason said. “Our detectives will not give up until the offender is brought to justice.”

Anyone with information about Caceres’ activities in Mount Kisco recently is asked to contact WFU detectives at 914-864-7901. All calls are confidential.

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