CHICAGO — Alexander Marrero, the Uber driver charged Thursday in the June sexual assault of a 23-year-old passenger, was not the first driver associated with the ride-hailing app to be accused of rape.
When prosecutors laid out their case against Marrero, alleging that he'd undressed and raped an unconscious woman, he became the third Uber driver to face sexual assault charges since late 2014.
In January 2015, 46-year-old Adnan Nafasat was charged with criminal sexual assault and kidnapping after allegedly overpowering and groping a 21-year-old man he picked up in Boystown the previous July. The charges are still pending.
Only two weeks earlier, 30-year-old Maxime Fohounhedo faced similar charges for allegedly bringing an uncounscious woman back to his Albany Park apartment. The charges were dropped, however, after cell phone video emerged showing the woman awake and alert in his car.
The pair of incidents prompted Uber to release a "Chicago safety checklist" for drivers and passengers in the city.
In the past two years, drivers for ride-hailing services have faced a slew of other accusations:
• Most recently, last month, a Lyft driver was accused of threatening a woman for reporting him after he allegedly groped her in his car on May 31.
• In December 2015, Uber driver Chieh Wang faced misdemeanor battery charges for allegedly attacking a reluctant passenger with a snow brush.
• That June, an Uber driver was fired after ABC7 unearthed a long criminal history he'd had.
• Back in April 2014, another driver stood accused of fondling a woman after picking her up from the South Loop.
Last month, the City Council approved a ride-hailing safety ordinance that did not include a mandate for every driver to pass a fingerprint background check, which had been proposed by Ald. Anthony Beale (9th). Lyft had threatened to pull its business from the city over the ordinance.
Taxi companies have accused Lyft and Uber of meeting a lower standard for safety by forgoing fingerprint background checks. While it's difficult to compare safety expectations between the two services, no known sexual assault charges have been leveled on taxi drivers in Chicago since at least 2014.
Defenders of ride-hailing apps counter that the ability to see each driver's name, picture and license plate before and after each trip is a huge extra step toward safety and accountability. After all, an Uber spokesperson noted, Marrero's red Hyundai was found by his alleged victim's roommate because the app had offered a picture of it.
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