BOCA RATON, Fla., Oct. 21 (UPI) -- John Arthur MacLean, the author of a book on his exploits as a burglar, has been charged for two 1970s rapes in southern Florida, officials said.
MacLean, 65, was arrested and charged Friday with two armed sexual batteries that occurred in Boca Raton in October 1976 and February 1977, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported.
The suspect was notorious for a $1 million jewelry heist targeting the Fort Lauderdale mansion of a Johnson & Johnson heiress in 1979. However, he was caught and served time in jail for the burglary.
He wrote his book "Secrets of a Superthief" while serving time in prison for that burglary.
The current charges against him were made after DNA preserved from three 1970s cold cases turned up positive matches allegedly linking MacLean to the rapes, police said.
"At the time he committed them he was careful and aware of police tactics," said Boca Raton Police Officer Sandra Boonenberg. "But obviously he didn't plan for the evolution of forensic technology."
MacLean, a registered sex offender since a 1992 conviction for sexual exploitation of a minor in Arizona, is being held without bail in Broward County jail.
