Crime & Safety

Uber Driver Sexually Assaulted Passenger: St. Pete Police

An Uber driver climbed into the backseat of his vehicle, undressed a woman he picked up for a ride against her will, St. Pete police said.

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An Uber driver climbed into the backseat of his vehicle and undressed a woman he had picked up for a ride against her will, St. Pete police said.
An Uber driver climbed into the backseat of his vehicle and undressed a woman he had picked up for a ride against her will, St. Pete police said. (Courtesy of St. Petersburg Police Department)

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — An Uber driver was arrested after sexually assaulting a woman he had picked up for a ride, according to a St. Petersburg Police Department news release.

Jose Antonio Canales Sanchez, 51, was charged with sexual battery and false imprisonment, the agency said.

He picked up a 32-year-old woman in his vehicle Wednesday around 6:30 a.m. Before reaching her designated destination, he pulled over into a parking lot.

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Canales Sanchez got into the backseat, where the woman was sitting, and began undressing her against her will and “touching her private parts,” police said.

She was able to fight him off and escape.

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Police arrested Canales Sanchez Wednesday afternoon.

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