An attempted rapist fled his trial 30 years ago. Police just found him at a New York deli.

Tiffany Cusaac-Smith
Updated
Nelson Gustavo Caceres, a national of Guatemala, "will now serve the sentence that was handed down three decades ago," a Westchester official said.

HAWTHORNE, N.Y. — Thirty years after being convicted of attempted rape, a man believed to have fled to Guatemala is finally in jail in New York.

Nelson Gustavo Caceres, 51, was convicted of first-degree attempted rape in 1989. But he fled while he on trial in suburban New York City, according to Westchester County Police. He was later sentenced in absentia to five to 15 years in state prison.

In the 1990s, detectives believed he likely returned to Guatemala. Detectives from the Warrant-Fugitive Unit have had an open case for three decades on Caceres.

During a recent review of the case, detectives came to believe Caceres may have returned recently to Mount Kisco, a village north of the city. Detectives conducted interviews there and set up surveillance at several locations.

A person thought to be Caceres had been riding around in a red bike and frequenting a local deli, police said. Officers found a bike near the deli Friday night and arrested Caceres when he came to retrieve the vehicle.

“We received a good deal of cooperation in the Mount Kisco community during this investigation and are grateful for the public’s assistance,” 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.”

In 1988, Mount Kisco police arrested Caceres after he dragged a woman into a wooded area and sexually assaulted her.

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

Caceres was indicted in 1988 and was free on bail. Now in Westchester County Jail, he also faces a charge of second-degree bail jumping, a felony.

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This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: An attempted rapist fled his trial 30 years ago. Police just found him at a New York deli.