Uber driver charged for sexually assaulting woman two summers ago, authorities say

An Uber driver who allegedly picked up an intoxicated woman outside a police station and sexually assaulted her two summers ago has been arrested and charged.

Amir Attia, 45, was arrested Wednesday in connection with the July 23, 2018, assault. On Friday, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office announced that Attia had been charged with two felony counts of sexual penetration and two misdemeanor counts of sexual battery for repeatedly abusing a passenger.

According to the unnamed victim, identified by Santa Ana police as a 25-year-old who resided in Santa Ana at the time of the attack, Attia repeatedly stopped his vehicle and sexually assaulted her after picking her up from the Tustin Police Station. The victim went to UC Irvine Medical Center and Anaheim Regional the following day where a sexual assault kit was taken. Attia’s identity was confirmed through DNA evidence.

According to jail records, Attia is being held in Orange County Jail on bail of $100,000. He has a previous conviction for sexual battery from 1993, police said.

This is not the first incident in which an Uber driver was accused of sexual assault. In December, Uber Technologies Inc. released a report that found more than 3,000 allegations of sexual assaults involving drivers or passengers in the U.S. had occurred on its platform in 2018.

In April 2019, three L.A. County women sued Uber for failing to warn them of sexual assaults carried out by drivers posing as Uber drivers. The suit alleged that nine people had been sexually assaulted by people posing as Uber drivers between September 2016 and February 2018 in Los Angeles.