Uber Driver Charged With Rape Has Criminal Record

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, CA — An Uber driver was charged Tuesday with raping a female passenger at a North Hollywood motel while the 24-year-old woman was unconscious.

Alaric Spence, 46, faces up to 15 years to life in state prison if convicted of one felony count each of kidnapping to commit rape, rape of an unconscious person and rape by use of drugs, according to the District Attorney's Office.

Spence picked the woman up in downtown Los Angeles last Friday and drove her to the motel, where he allegedly raped her, according to Deputy District Attorney Reinhold Mueller. The woman was intoxicated and unconscious at the time of the alleged attack, the prosecutor said.

Los Angeles police said the woman passed out in the back of Spence's car while en route to Hollywood about 3 a.m. Spence is suspected of driving the woman to the motel, renting a room and then carrying her from his car into the room.

The woman woke up alone, not knowing where she was or how she got there, and called police, according to Capt. William Hayes, commanding officer of the Los Angeles Police Department's Robbery-Homicide Division.

Spence, who was arrested late Friday, was ordered to be held in lieu of $1.1 million bail while awaiting arraignment July 24.

He has prior drug-related convictions and had been an Uber driver for the past six months, according to police.

City News Service