KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? A man arrested for fraud and identity theft at a medical center where he was working as a nurse turned out to be a rapist who escaped 21 years ago from prison in Michigan, the FBI said.

Willis Taylor III, 47, is accused of using the name and Social Security number of Kevin Michael Morrisroe, 55, of Albuquerque, N.M., while working as a nurse in the Kansas City area. He was arrested Tuesday in Topeka.

“When we took him into custody, we didn’t know who he really was,” said FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza.

The FBI discovered Taylor’s background when it ran his fingerprints through the bureau’s database in Washington. Lanza said Taylor escaped in 1978 from the Parnall Correction Facility in Jackson, Mich., four years into a eight-to-20-year sentence for aggravated rape.

A spokesman for Michigan’s Department of Corrections could not immediately provide any details about Teller’s background or escape.

“I’m sure Michigan will want him back to finish his sentence on the rape charge,” Lanza said. “I assume they are relieved that he’s been captured.”

Federal prosecutors in Kansas charged Taylor with one count of mail fraud for sending a nursing license renewal application using the name of Morrisroe. He waived his right to a detention hearing Wednesday; his next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 16.

Taylor had no nursing training that the FBI is aware of, Lanza said.

“We are investigating the possibility that he has been masquerading as a nurse since his escape over the past 21 years,” Lanza said. “It is so early right now, we don’t know how many places he has been working or how many different states he has lived in. We don’t know how many identities he has used, either.”

Lanza said that while other convicts had been captured decades after escaping from prison, it was “unusual that he assumed an identity where he had patient interaction in a medical setting.”

According to a FBI affidavit, RehabCare Group Inc. of St. Louis told authorities in October that an individual, who later turned out to be Taylor, was pretending to be Morrisroe and was employed as a registered nurse at a company subsidiary, Star Med Staffing Group in Overland Park. While employed by Star Med, Taylor worked at various hospitals as a registered nurse.