A 19-year-old man posing as an Uber driver, who reportedly said he was driving under a family member’s account, was arrested after he allegedly raped a 15-year-old girl outside her school in South Gate late last month.
The terrifying, traumatic ordeal unfolded on Oct. 23 after the teen’s mother, identified only by her first name, Estella, had ordered the rideshare to take her daughter to school.
According to the victim’s account, the sexual assault lasted several minutes after the man got in the backseat and overpowered her just outside of South Gate High School.
“He grabbed her from the neck, pinned her down toward the seat, pulled down her pants,” Estella explained to KTLA’s Sandra Mitchell.
The teen’s mother added that she noticed the ride was taking longer than it normally does, that it was past her drop-off time and her daughter wasn’t responding to calls or texts.
After the assault, the sophomore in high school called her sister.
“She was like, ‘Something really bad happened to me in the Uber car,’” Estella said. “She explained this individual locked her in the car, she couldn’t open the doors. He was too heavy, she couldn’t push him away.”
The teen’s mother said the man was not the registered driver, that he was pretending to be someone else.
“I had the license plate. I had the color of the car. I had a picture of him and I asked my daughter, ‘Is this the person?’ My daughter said, ‘No, mom. That’s not the person,’” she said. “He stated he was using his brother’s account, and she didn’t know his name.”
After investigators with the Los Angeles Police Department tracked the suspect down, authorities said he confessed to the crime, but claimed the incident was consensual. The suspect, who at this point has not been identified, was arrested and could face number of charges, including statutory rape.
In a statement to KTLA, Uber released a statement that reads in part:
“The driver’s behavior is appalling and has no place on the Uber platform. We take reports of this nature very seriously, and we removed the driver’s access to the platform as soon as we were made aware. We have a dedicated team that has been assisting law enforcement with their investigation.”
As for Estella, she said she feels tremendous guilt for trusting Uber with her teenage daughter and she wants them to add safeguards for other riders.
“There should be a system of fingerprints or something, face recognition,” she said. “They should have a system in place that a person who gets inside that vehicle knows that they’re going to be safe.”
The 19-year-old suspect in the case was released from jail the day after he pleaded not guilty and is free on bail, officials said.
