Uber driver charged with sexually assaulting female passenger

LOS ANGELES: A 46-year- old Uber driver was charged on Tuesday with raping a female passenger at a North Hollywood motel, Southern California, while the 24-year- old woman was unconscious, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

Alaric Spence faces up to 15 years to life in prison if convicted of one felony count each of kidnapping to commit rape, rape of an unconscious person and rape by use of drugs, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Spence, who was arrested late Friday, has five prior drug-related felony convictions and had worked for Uber for the past six months, according to Los Angeles police.

Investigators released images of Spence and his vehicle, a 2015 silver four-door Nissan Sentra.

Police said that Spence picked up a 24-year-old woman in downtown Los Angeles last Friday and was supposed to drop her off in Hollywood, the police said.

Spence drove her to a North Hollywood motel, where he allegedly raped her and left her there.

The woman was intoxicated and unconscious at the time of the alleged attack, the prosecutor said.

The woman may pass out in the back of his car while en route to Hollywood. Spence is suspected of driving the woman to the motel, renting a room and then carrying her from his car into the room, according to City News Service.