Move over Europe: Muslims
'raping U.S. women', Uber-big problem as drivers accused
of preying on female passengers, by Leo Hohmann, 3/21/16, WND
A growing number of drivers working
for Uber, Lyft and similar taxi services have been accused of sexually
assaulting female passengers. And many of them have Muslim names.
Two Uber drivers – Hassan Ibrahim,
48, and Salim Salem, 47 – were charged last week in connection with sexual
assaults against female college students at Michigan State University, the Detroit
Free Press reported.
The two men are accused of using
their Uber driver jobs to prey upon college students. Ibrahim faces one count
of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with a Feb. 14 incident,
according to East Lansing police. He turned himself in March 11 after a warrant
had been issued for his arrest. Salem faces two counts of fourth-degree
criminal sexual conduct related to a Jan. 16 incident, and he turned himself in
Tuesday. Both were released on $5,000 bail. Salem’s bail includes a condition
that he not work as an Uber driver or cab driver in the future. East Lansing
police said in late February they were investigating two drivers who allegedly
made unwelcome sexual advances toward female MSU students, the Free Press
reported. Multiple women complained of inappropriate touching.
The news comes just days after
another Uber driver in California – Omar Mahmoud Mousa, 52, of Anaheim – was
charged with raping a woman at an Anaheim motel, as WND
reported. Police said they suspect Mousa
likely has other victims, and they are asking the public to come forward with
information.
Iraqi
refugee charged with rape in Connecticut. One
of the more horrific cases happened in Connecticut and involved an Iraqi
refugee. Police in Hamden, Connecticut, arrested 29-year-old Ahmad Bahjat of
New Haven on Feb. 26, MassLive.com
reported. Investigators say they responded
to Yale-New Haven Hospital on Jan. 31 for a report by an alleged victim of
sexual assault. The woman had left a New Haven bar and walked to a parking area
designated for Uber and taxi drivers, according to police. Ahmad Bahjat came to
America as a refugee from Iraq and is now charged with first degree sexual
assault. Bahjat pretended to be an Uber driver and the woman got into his car,
believing he was the Uber driver she requested, police told WTNH
News 8.
Police said Bahjat “viciously
sexually assaulted” the woman. She bolted from the car, leaving several
personal items behind, according to investigators. She suffered injuries to her
neck, wrists and knees, police said. They said they found evidence supporting
the woman’s claim after seizing the car.
Police say Bahjat is a 2012 refugee
from Iraq and holds a green card. Within 24 hours of the alleged attack, Bahjat
fled the United States, taking a flight to Toronto, then to Turkey and on to
Jordan. An arrest warrant was issued, officials said. On Feb. 11, police say
U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained Bahjat at JFK International Airport
while he was trying to re-enter the country. He was jailed in New York and
Hamden Police charged Bahjat with first-degree sexual assault, first-degree
kidnapping and first-degree unlawful restraint.
Florida
driver climbs into back seat to assault woman
In another incident reported Feb. 12
by News
4 Jacksonville, Ismael Esa allegedly climbed into
the back seat of his car and assaulted a female passenger who was seeking a
ride home from her boyfriend’s apartment. Esa got into the back seat, locked the
doors and started fondling the woman, who was a student at the University of
North Florida in Jacksonville. Esa was then accused of stalking his victim, who
won a court-ordered injunction against him in January, according
to Jacksonville.com. Ismael Esa was charged in
Jacksonville, Florida David Wolf, an attorney representing the Florida woman,
said Lyft, like Uber, markets itself as a safe and family friendly service but
doesn’t do enough to make sure passengers are safe. Uber screens potential
drivers using a third-party company, which runs automated background checks,
according to the company’s policy.
But that’s not enough, says Wolf. “What
we’re seeing prominently is that advertising without any substance behind the
advertising,” he told News 4. “You do a simple background check that doesn’t
mean a person hasn’t been caught. Where is the supervision? Where is the
accountability? Where are the conversations?”
Dallas
driver accused of rape. In another case in November 2015,
Dallas police arrested a 34-year-old Lyft driver for allegedly raping a female
passenger. Loai Faheem Laila was charged in Dallas Police found Loai Faheem
Laila hiding in his brother’s garage, the Dallas
Morning News reported. He was being held in the Dallas
County Jail on a $1 million bond because a tipster told police that Laila
intended to flee the country. The victim told police she had been at a bar in
Dallas and became separated from her friend around 3 a.m. Nov. 7 in the 2900
block of McKinney Avenue. She told police she ordered a ride from an app-based
service, and she was picked up by a man in a black Chevrolet Tahoe.
After a short distance, Laila
allegedly began to inappropriately touch the woman. She resisted, and he pulled
onto a “dark side street,” where he raped her in the back of the Tahoe, police
said in court records.
Local media, cops cover up
backgrounds of immigrants
Almost never do the police or local
media provide background details on these predator drivers, such as their
immigration status or country of origin.
One exception was the case of
Philadelphia Uber driver Abdellah Elkaddi. In June last year, Elkaddi was
accused of raping a 24-year-old woman who had called for a late-night ride
home. Abdellah Elkaddi was charged in Philadelphia
The judge in that case set bail at
$1 million, and part of the reason for the high bail was that Elkaddi is a
native of Morocco and had been a U.S. citizen for seven years, the Philadelphia
Inquirer reported. Elkaddi, 46, was arrested hours
after the woman said he attacked her early June 11, according
to Philly.com. She fell asleep during the drive
home, the woman told police. She woke up to Elkaddi groping and mounting her,
Philly.com reported. “Get off of me! What are you doing?” she yelled seven or
eight times as he raped her, according to court documents. Several states are
considering legislation to regulate app-based shuttle services. A bill in
Massachusetts, for example, calls for Uber and Lyft drivers to be fingerprinted
and their prints submitted for state and national criminal checks.
But the problem predates the advent
of Uber and Lyft.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul area, home
to America's largest Somali refuge community, has had dozens of incidents over
the years of Muslim cab drivers being accused of sexually assaulting their
female customers.
Abdikadir Yusef Mohamed - One of the
more high-profile cases involved Abdikadir Yusef Mohamed, a 24-year-old St.
Paul cab driver brought to the U.S. from Somalia as a refugee. According to a
2011 report by
CBS Minnesota, Mohamed picked up a 27-year-old
woman who called for a cab after finishing work on East 6th St. The victim told
Mohamed she wanted to smoke, and he told her she could only do so if she moved into
the front seat of the cab. When she did, he repeatedly reached up her skirt and
touched her genital area. When she resisted him and tried to escape, he locked
the doors. He responded by saying, "I know what all you American girls
want. Let’s go to a parking lot somewhere." He ended up being convicted at
trial and sentenced to four months in prison and 10 years probation. The victim
said she felt intimidated in the courtroom by the numerous Somali family
members who came in support of her attacker, a statement Mohamed's attorney
called "racist," the St.
Paul Pioneer Press reported.
In the California case reported last
week, police believe there may be more victims, and they are asking for the
public’s help in finding them. Omar Mahmoud Mousa, 52, was arrested on a
$100,000 bond and assigned a court date of April 8 to face felony charges of
rape, forcible oral copulation and sexual penetration by foreign object. The
alleged rape occurred Oct. 25, according to the Orange County District
Attorney’s Office, but Mousa had been out of the country until recently. He was
arrested March 7 as he disembarked from a plane landing at Los Angeles
International Airport. Authorities were not saying what country he had traveled
to or whether he was a native-born American, a naturalized citizen or some
other status.
Uber issued a statement that read:
“Uber has a zero-tolerance policy for violent behavior, and our thoughts are
with the victim of this atrocious crime. We immediately blocked this
individual’s access to the Uber platform upon learning of this incident and
actively assisted law enforcement in their investigation." Prosecutors
said Mousa was working as a driver for Uber when he picked up a 21-year-old
woman and her female friend at their Anaheim motel room and drove them to a bar
in Fullerton, the Orange
County Register reported. Mousa gave the
women his business card and told them to call him directly when they planned to
leave, rather than going through the Uber app, authorities said. Several hours
later, one of the women called Mousa and he gave them a ride back to their
motel, helping them into their room, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said the
victim's friend immediately passed out on the bed, and Mousa placed the victim
on the same bed as her friend. The woman was intoxicated, prosecutors said, but
told Mousa "no" multiple times as he raped her before she managed to
push him away.
http://www.wnd.com/2016/03/uber-big-problem-muslims-raping-u-s-women-in-taxis/
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