Police in Sandy, Utah, have charged a Lyft driver who is in the country illegally with the brutal rape of a female passenger.
Police arrested Alejandro Rendon Segovia, 26, on September 17 and accused him of the August 30 attack. He was charged with aggravated kidnapping and object rape, first-degree felonies, and obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony, according to KSTU-TV.
Migrants committing crimes while driving for Lyft or Uber seems to be a rising issue among the rideshare companies. Just for two examples, in August, a tech company CEO was physically assaulted by an Uber driver in Charleston. Another was charged with aggravated kidnapping for attempting to rape a female passenger in Texas.
The incident in Utah began when a 19-year-old woman ordered a Lyft driver at four a.m. to take her to her home in Sandy, Utah, on Aug. 30. But family members said that the woman did not show up at her home when she was supposed to have been dropped off there.
“Officers conducted an area canvas and were unable to locate (her) or any evidence that supported she had been dropped off in the area. Officers also attempted to conduct an emergency ping on her phone, which was unsuccessful,” the charging documents state.
Investigators allege that the driver, a Mexican national, did not take the girl home but instead made two stops in different parking lots. Drove erratically, and sexually assaulted the girl, who was intoxicated.
“Segovia began yelling and hitting himself in the face, telling (the cousin) … that she’s ‘like all the other girls.’ (She) said she was scared and asked him to let her out,” the police report adds.
The victim told police that the driver convinced her to remain in his car and promised to take her home, and she relented. But when he began driving, Segovia “began yelling and was swerving on the highway. She recalled that Segovia missed her exit, was yelling in Spanish, and was ‘continuously slapping himself in the face and chest,” the report continues.
Police say that after he attacked her, Segovia dumped the girl on the side of the road about a mile from her residence.
The victim went to a hospital where doctors found she had bruises on both her legs, had a bruise on her inner thigh, and had several abrasions. Prosecutors say:
The defendant, in this matter, used his position as a rideshare driver to prey upon the victim who was in an intoxicated state. (Segovia) picked up the victim from a residence and was paid to drop the victim off at a second residence, however she never arrived. The defendant drove near the residence in order to ‘end’ the ride on the ride share app, indicating the victim had been dropped off, despite not, then drove away.
After he was arrested, Segovia refused to give a court-ordered sample of DNA and had to be compelled to do so.
Investigators feel there may be other victims and are asking anyone with information to step forward.
Uber in particular has a major sexual assault problem that becomes worse late at night and on weekends — when women typically use the service in an effort to be safe. The company reportedly averaged a sexual assault or sexual misconduct report in the United States every eight minutes over the course of five years, Breitbart News reported this month.
Court documents reveal that Uber received a staggering 400,181 reports of sexual assault and sexual misconduct between 2017 and 2022 — a problem far more pervasive than the company has suggested.
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