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Boston Uber driver charged with raping passenger in Newton last fall
By adamg on Tue, 04/25/2017 - 11:27pm
An Uber driver who picked up a woman in Boston raped her, then dropped her off at Boston College, the Middlesex County District Attorney's office charges.
Luis Baez, also known as Pedro Valentin, had bail set at $2,500 today at his arraignment on three counts of rape in Newton District Court, the DA's office reports.
According to prosecutors, Baez, 34, picked the woman up in Boston on Sept. 29, then "drove her to a location other than her requested destination where he proceeded to sexually assault her."
Investigators were able to find him in part due to "information stored in the application from the victim’s ride request," the DA's office says.
Innocent, etc.
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Comments
He used a false identity.
No, we don't need fingerprints.
and was still caught
Without fingerprints. Your point?
Not the point of fingerprints bosguy22
They want to fingerprint you before you get a Hackney/Uber license. That way they at least know if you are using a fake identity before you have the opportunity to drive intoxicated people around.
and how would fingerprints had stopped this Pete Nice?
If he has no criminal record, fingerprints aren't going to stop him from doing exactly what he did.
Previously known to police
From the press release
It appears that Baez had used an alias to hide previous issues with police. I assume that fingerprints are on file.
He had a record.
Which fingerprints would have revealed during the application process.
Its not much of a background check without fingerprints
it is expensive to print all your employees. This is one of the many differences between licensed taxi drivers and uber.
Uber Driver Arrested for Rape
Uber drivers are not Uber's "employees". Like taxi drivers, tour bus and school bus drivers, commercial bike messengers, street peddlers and "hawkers", each applicant pays the fingerprinting fee themselves. This is about public safety, not what's convenient for Uber et al.
Your tone is pretty aggressive.
Which would be ok if you knew what you were talking about. Let me lay it out:
1. Fingerprints (and other biometric identification tools) positively identify the actual person
2. Fingerprints would have revealed this person was applying for a license using a false identity - a potential red flag on its own
3. Fingerprints also would have notified authorities of this person's criminal record and he wouldn't have received a license in the first place.
4. Even assuming that this guy would not have been disqualified from getting a license, at the very least fingerprints would have made it easier to find this guy because the police would not have been searching for an alias.
Also, good to know that you aren't concerned about preventing sexual assaults. As long as the police make an arrest that's sufficient in your book, right?
Uber's platform allows for anonymity
Uber doesn't require its drivers to do an interview or anything. It's very easy to sign up with false info. Use Safr instead -- they require drivers to do an interview in person, they have frequent meetings/trainings/social events for their drivers, so the drivers and employees all know each other. It would be much harder to use a fake identity with Safr. Also they don't surge.
Only $2500?
Seems low for what sounds like a pretty heinous crime.
The charges are heinous, but I believe the bail amount means
...the judge decided that $2,500 bail was enough additional incentive for the accused, to believe that the accused would show up to court, in addition to the other reasons (such as ties to the area).
heinous
Pretty heinous, yes, but they sound especially heinous.
Why so long?
Why did it take 7 months to charge the alleged scumbag?
Sexual assault victims don't always report right away..
And they may have gotten seen at the hospital that night, but reported it to the police later. Plus it appears the driver wasn't who he said he was. That makes it a little harder to find you.
Illegal immigrant, deported
Illegal immigrant, deported once already. DA asked for $100,000 bail, Newton district court judge Mary Heffernon set bail at $2500 which a friend immediately paid before ICE could detain the scumbag.
But hey, Sanctuary City status does not put residents at risk. Who wants to bet this guy never appears for his court date? Think of that next time you have your daughter use a ride sharing service.