Uber driver held in sexual assault
WEST CHESTER >> A Common Pleas judge has agreed to place a Montgomery County man accused or raping a woman while he was driving for Uber on stringent bail requirements to insure that he appears for trial in the future.
On Thursday, Judge Patrick Carmody said that defendant Ahmed Mostafa Elgaafary would have to surrender all his passports, whether foreign or domestic, check in with the Chester County Pre-Trial Services Department in person on a weekly basis, and submit to electronic home monitoring by 10 a.m. Friday.
The judge set the conditions after Assistant District Attorney Vincent Cocco, who is prosecuting Elgaafary on the rape charges, argued that the Egyptian national is a flight risk because of the serious nature of the case against him and the fact that he may still hold an Egyptian passport.
Elgaafary appeared in court at the county Justice Center at the bail hearing on Thursday. He has been free on $50,000 cash bail since late last month.
According to an arrest affidavit filed by state Trooper Amos Glick, Elgaafary, 26, of Lansdale, was identified as the driver of an Uber ride sharing car that picked up a woman at the Valley Forge Casino in Upper Merion in the early morning hours of Feb. 10.
The woman told investigators that she had been at the casino and was drinking heavily that morning. She called for an Uber ride to take her home, and was picked up at about 2:20 a.m. She said she did not remember anything about the ride home, and woke up in her home that morning nauseous and with a “bad feeling that something may have happened.”
She had bruises on her legs and forehead, and dirt under her fingernails. She was also dressed only in a bra when she woke up.
Checking the Uber applications, the woman, whose name was not included in the affidavit, saw that the ride had lasted approximately 58 minutes, when the normal travel time between the casino and her home in Charlestown is about 15 minutes.
She was taken to Pottstown Hospital, where a sexual assault examination was conducted, including swabs for her DNA.
Glick, a seven-year veteran of the state police assigned to the Lancaster barracks, was able to identify Elgaafary as the Uber driver who had picked her up the night of Feb. 10. He appeared for an interview on March 2, and said he remembered picking the woman up, and noticing that she appeared intoxicated. He said she vomited multiple times during the ride, but denied having any sexual contact with her. He voluntarily agreed to provide Glick with a sample of his DNA.
When Glick later received the results of the examination, he said the state police forensic lab had detected evidence of sperm on the victim. A DNA analysis of that positively identified his DNA in the examination results ... confirming that he had had sex with the woman.
He was arrested on Oct. 31, and charged with rape of an unconscious person, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual assault, and indecent assault. He was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Joann Teyral of Phoenixville, who initially set bail at $75,000, which he could not post. After a preliminary hearing at which he was held for trial on all charges, the judge reduced his bail to
$50,000 cash.
Cocco said in his petition to modify his bail that Elgaafary posted bail on Nov. 21.
The prosecutor noted in his petition that Elgaafary has been in the United States since 2008, first on a student visa at Temple University, and later after he was detained for having overstayed his visa, as a lawful permanent resident because of his
2014 marriage to a U.S. citizen. He is represented by defense attorney Jonathan Altman of West Chester.