Carlos Omar Pichinte, a 42-year-old man from California, received a sentence of 29 years to life on Wednesday for sexually assaulting four women under the guise of being a rideshare driver, according to a statement from the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office shared with Law&Crime.
Pichinte pleaded no contest on September 17 to two counts of assault with intent to commit a sexual assault and one count of forcible rape. This plea does not admit guilt but accepts the punishment for the crimes.
The prosecution stated that Pichinte’s actions, which spanned across three cities over approximately seven months, involved him driving a car adorned with rideshare decals, picking up victims, and transporting them to a different location to carry out the sexual assaults. These incidents reportedly occurred in October 2016, and March, April, and May 2017 in West Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and West Hollywood.
The allegations were investigated by the Beverly Hills Police Department, Los Angeles Police Department, and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Pichinte was apprehended in July 2017. At the time of his arrest, authorities reported that he was impersonating an Uber driver to sexually assault a woman, as per The Los Angeles Times. He reportedly picked up the woman in West Hollywood and drove her to Beverly Hills, where the assault took place.
Pichinte was arrested a week later during a traffic stop. His vehicle, a Kia Rio, was decorated with Uber and Lyft decals, but he was not an employee of either company, according to the police.
Initially, Pichinte faced charges including rape and kidnapping. The Beverly Hills police expressed concerns at the time that there could be additional victims in the Los Angeles area.
Leave a Reply