Uber Latest Sexual Assault? Driver Accused Of Raping Passenger In Wealthy Virginia Neighborhood

An Uber driver appeared in court in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Tuesday after being accused of raping a female passenger in one of the city's well-heeled oceanfront neighborhoods last weekend.

Sewanou Bisile Yoro, 34, was arrested Monday on charges of abduction, rape and aggravated sexual assault, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

Yoro, who is black, reportedly picked up the woman in the Bay Colony neighborhood of Virginia Beach Saturday and sexually assaulted her during the car ride.

Yoro had been living by himself in the nearby Norfolk area since 2010, he told District Judge Gene Woolard during his arraignment. Yoro had been working as a part-time Uber drive for three years, bringing home roughly $350 a week, according to court documents.

Yoro is currently being held without bond in the Virginia Beach Jail. Woolard appointed a public defender and scheduled a preliminary hearing for May 4.

The name of the victim has not been released, but the arrest warrant said she was an adult. In addition to calling the police after the incident, the victim also reported the alleged sexual assault to Uber though the company’s 24/7 incident hotline.

"The type of conduct that has been described has no place on the app or anywhere. The driver has been banned from Uber and we will work with police to provide them with any information that would be useful in their investigation," Uber said in a statement Tuesday.

Uber has been plagued by several high-profile sexual assault cases involving its employees.

The company settled a lawsuit in November after two women said Uber was responsible for its drivers sexually assaulting them, Bloomberg reported Nov. 3. The settlements with a woman in Boston and another in Charleston, South Carolina, represented the first cases where Uber couldn't distance itself legally from the actions of its drivers following a federal judge's ruling six months earlier, rejecting the company's argument it wasn't liable for its drivers because they were classified as contractors and not employees.

Ex-Uber female engineer Susan Fowler penned a scathing blog post about a corporate culture of sexual harassment among Uber’s senior management employees on Feb. 19. The company’s human resources department would not only neglect sexual harassment allegations but gaslight the female employees for reporting the abuse, the blog post reads.

Fourteen incidents involving Uber drivers reportedly have resulted in deaths since 2014.