Police: Rape suspect sent Uber to pick up girls
Alleged victims, 12 and 16, were staying at a shelter
Deputies say 21-year-old Shane Sandoval wanted to “drink alcohol and party” with a 12-yearold girl and a 16-year-old girl who were staying at a shelter for runaways last week.
So, the girls told police, he sent for an Uber driver to pick them up early Thursday.
Then he and his friend raped the young girls, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.
Detectives with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office arrested Shane Sandoval on Friday and charged him with two counts of criminal sexual penetration of a minor.
According to the complaint, the girls — who had met each other the week before — were staying at the New Day Youth and Family Services shelter last Wednesday when they were invited to go hang out with a man the older girl had met on Facebook.
Sandoval went to pick them up but shortly afterward was pulled over by Albuquerque police for not having a license plate on his Toyota. Police returned the girls to the shelter around midnight.
Two hours later, Sandoval tried again.
He told the older girl he didn’t want to drive in that area after getting stopped by police and would instead send an Uber driver to pick them up from a nearby gas station around 2:30 a.m., according to the complaint. Uber is a ride-hailing service through which customers can book rides by using an app.
The girls told detectives the Uber driver dropped them off at a Northeast Albuquerque apartment, where Sandoval gave them hard alcohol.
Then, they said, both Sandoval and his friend, whom they had just met, raped each of them, according to the complaint.
The girls walked from his apartment to the main office of the Children, Youth and Families Department looking for a safe place, said detective Kyle Hartsock, who was assigned to the case.
According to the complaint, Sandoval told deputies he had sent an Uber driver for the girls and had consensual sex with the older girl, who he claimed was 18. He was still in jail Monday.
Hartsock said he is still trying to determine the identity of the other man.
It’s not the first time Sandoval has been charged with rape, according to court documents.
In 2016, he was charged with four counts of criminal sexual penetration against one woman.
That case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it could be refiled, because the witness didn’t cooperate with the prosecution.
Hartsock said he has seen a recent increase in Uber being used to transport victims, including sex trafficking victims, because it makes it harder to pinpoint one vehicle connected to a crime.
And although he said the Uber driver is not in any trouble, he would like to talk to him about the incident.
“I think if its 2:30 in the morning and you’re picking up underage kids, you should question them and maybe even talk to authorities,” Hartsock said. “We want everyone in the community if they see a 12-year-old out alone in the middle of the night to call someone, because that’s suspicious.”