An Uber driver in Colorado was arrested and charged with kidnapping a 15-year-old girl.
Ahmed Muse, 29, picked up the unnamed teenager from her job in Golden shortly after 10 p.m. on Nov. 10, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said.
There was another rider in the back seat, so the girl sat up front. The rise share was part of an uberPOOL, which allows riders to save money by sharing a ride with others going the same direction.
The rules of the pool dictate that riders are to be dropped off according to their destination not in the order each rider was picked up. However Muse bypassed the teenager’s destination despite her being the first along the route. Muse claimed the Uber application wasn’t functioning properly.
“Knowing she was only a few blocks from home, the girl offered to pay Muse an additional $10.00 to drop her first so she would not have to travel to I-76 and Pecos—the other rider’s destination—only to have to return to Golden,” the sheriff’s office said.
“Muse refused to stop, saying he had to drop passengers in the order they were picked up. After dropping the other passenger, Muse drove back to the girl’s neighborhood and stopped where she indicated. She was unable to leave the vehicle, however, because he had locked the doors. Then Muse kissed her against her will and eventually unlocked the doors so she was able to escape to the safety of her home,” said the office.
Muse was identified through the Uber app and he was arrested on Nov. 11 and charged with second-degree kidnapping, false imprisonment, and harassment. The other passenger corroborated the details as they happened.
The sheriff’s office said that people using ride services should share the name of the driver and license plate number of the vehicle with others for personal safety.
The office also noted that because the 15-year-old is under age, she was not allowed to schedule an Uber by herself and had to ask a co-worker to do so.
Uber said in a statement that Muse was removed from the app after being arrested.
“What’s been described is deeply troubling and upon learning of it we immediately removed the driver’s access to the app,” an Uber representative said in a statement to Denver7. “We stand ready to assist the law enforcement investigation in any way possible.”