Uber says that it puts all new drivers through checks of their criminal and driving history, and none of what happened in a Boston suburb should have taken place. The prosecutor in Malden, MA says that a local driver had a long and sometimes violent criminal history, and he is accused of tracking down, offering extra rides to, and raping a 16-year-old passenger earlier this summer.

According to the Boston Globe, the girl’s account of what happened is that the driver flirted with her when she had hailed his vehicle through the Uber app, and that he later found her on Snapchat and made contact with her. He later messaged her through Snapchat to say that he was waiting outside her home, and she wisely declined to meet him.

Then she claims that she missed her summer school bus, and contacted the bus driver about it. Suddenly, a message came from the Uber driver from the week before, asking if she needed a ride somewhere. He messaged her on Snapchat, not through Uber.

She says that the driver picked her up, then brought her to a secluded area and raped her in the backseat of his vehicle.

“Why did she ever get in the car with him?” his defense attorney asked in court. “It’s a fascinating coincidence that she texted her bus driver to say that [she] doesn’t need a ride,” and then suddenly the Uber driver whose advances she had turned down sent her a message?

The driver was arrested on Wednesday and charged today. He was previously in prison on drug charges, but his lawyer says that his other crimes were misdemeanors and most had been dismissed.

Investigators are now looking at forensic evidence, and the suspect is being held without bail: there will be a dangerousness hearing to decide whether he will be granted bail.

16-year-old girl allegedly raped by Uber driver [Boston Globe]

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