WOBURN, Mass. — Stephen Paul Gale, once known as the “Boston Strip Mall Rapist,” was sentenced to up to 60 years in prison on Monday, nearly four decades after he raped two women at gunpoint in a MetroWest clothing store.
Gale, who was found guilty last week of four counts of aggravated rape, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of armed robbery, was handed two concurrent sentences of not more than 30 years and no less than 25 years in the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center in Lancaster.
Gale, now 73, attacked two women, ages 18 and 29, at Hit or Miss, a Framingham clothing store on Dec. 27, 1989, brutally raping them at gunpoint before fleeing the state.
The women were opening the store when Gale asked one of the employees for assistance and drew a .357 Magnum. According to prosecutors, Gale forced the two employees to the back of the store and made one of them empty all the money from a locked safe, the cash register, and her pocketbook into a bag. He made the second employee lock the doors and put a sign on the front door saying the store would open late.
Gale then forced the victims to take off their clothes, and according to prosecutors, he sexually assaulted both victims while holding the gun to their heads. Once the victims believed that Gale had left the store, they fled out of a back door to a nearby home.
He remained at large for decades until he was captured in Los Angeles in 2024.
During his trial, the Commonwealth presented DNA evidence that they said conclusively linked Gale to the assaults, securing a long‑awaited conviction.
Gale received 10 years of administrative probation for each kidnapping charge. The judge also ordered him not to have contact with the victims.
Gale’s attorneys plan to appeal the judge’s decision.
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