Don Smollett can't believe the man he knew from the Los Angeles marina was a wanted fugitive. "I am so shocked. I am absolutely stunned," Smollett said.
He talked to Stephen Paul Gale for years – as Gale overhauled "the Dior" because, he told Smollett, he planned to trade it in for a bigger boat. "Everything you can imagine new went into that boat. Electronics and everything," Smollett said.
"I couldn't afford anything like what they were putting on that boat. So he had money to do that." Smollett watched, stunned, Tuesday night as police swarmed the luxury yacht to search it for evidence in the 1989 Framingham rape.
"He was nice, pleasant," Smollett said. But authorities paint a very different picture. He was indicted in April for raping at gunpoint two women working at a clothing store in Framingham in 1989.
Sources tell 5 Investigates that Gale went to extremes to avoid capture, mutilating his fingertips so his fingerprints couldn't be used to identify him. But he was captured Aug. 8 and identified as the Framingham rape suspect.
He has been in custody since then, appearing in a Los Angeles courtroom on a gurney for the first time on Tuesday. By his side were two private defense attorneys, including a high-profile lawyer who once defended rap mogul Suge Knight. At the hearing, a judge ordered Gale held on $2 million bail and he is due back in LA court on Oct.
9. But that's on the fraud charges – it's still unclear how this will impact his extradition to Boston. 5 Investigates obtained new photos showing the moment Gale's life on the run came crashing down at the end of a wild police chase that lasted more than an hour.
His lawyers say he just had heart surgery – and that his health is a serious concern. The rape survivors have fought for years to see his arrest. One of them tells 5 Investigates: "Gale mutilated his fingers to avoid being fingerprinted.
He ran from the police for an hour and a half on the highways of LA. He's been hiding and using aliases for over 30 years – this is par for a ruthless person who sexually assaulted us the way he did. He deserves zero sympathy.
" Back at the marina, Smollet is still processing it all. "You never know who you talk to anymore, huh," he said..
