Uber Driver Charged With Raping Passenger

An Uber driver in California has been charged with raping a female passenger in his car in March, after he picked her up from a company function.

According to the Orange County District Attorney’s office, the woman was intoxicated, so her colleagues requested a car for her to get home from the Newport Beach gathering on March 30.

The suspect is accused of driving her to a street near her home in Santa Ana and raping her in his Toyota Sienna, prosecutors say. The woman fled the vehicle and immediately called 9-1-1.

Police investigated and arrested the man on April 1, and he was formally charged this week with a felony count of raping an intoxicated victim.

The suspect has since been banned from driving for Uber.

“Nobody should go through what this rider reported to police. We worked with law enforcement on the investigation and will continue to work with authorities,” an Uber spokesperson said in a statement.

Another Uber driver in southern California was arrested earlier this month “on suspicion of various sexual assault crimes” after he was accused of parking his van and sexually assaulting a sleeping passenger near her home.