TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – A rideshare driver is facing sexual battery charges after allegedly assaulting a woman he picked up at a bar, according to arrest papers.
Documents show the victim reported the assault on Jan. 10 at a hospital. She told officers she believed she had been assaulted by her Lyft driver the night before.
According to arrest papers, the victim told Tallahassee police officers she had been at a local bar when she requested a Lyft. She remembered getting into the Lyft and texting a friend to say she was on the way home. She told officers that the driver offered her a water bottle and, after drinking it, she “lost all her memory.”
The victim told officers when she woke up the next morning, she remembered the driver telling her something along the lines of “I’m not going to take you home unless you have sex with me.” Arrests papers say she also had a “flash memory” of the driver being on top of her and kissing her.
Arrests papers show the victim could not find her underwear from the night before and “her body felt as if she had had sexual intercourse.”
An unknown number was found in the victim’s call history. The victim dialed the number and a man answered the phone. According to documents, she asked the man if he was her Lyft driver. He told her that he was “the one that took her home.” He denied her allegations about possibly drugging her.
The victim described the suspect’s vehicle as a darker colored SUV, which was not the vehicle listed for her Lyft driver in the app.
The Lyft driver was identified and appeared to look similar to the suspect description provided by the victim, according to documents.
However, the Lyft driver told police he cancelled the ride with the victim and she never got into his vehicle. Arrests papers show that the victim did not come outside for her ride, so he called her via the Lyft app before cancelling the ride.
Candia is charged with sexual battery, according to arrest documents(Leon County Jail)
The driver told officers he may have seen the victim get into a black SUV.
Officers then identified Diego Fernando Lopez Candia by his phone number in the victim’s phone. According to arrest papers, Candia’s car matched the description from the victim and the Lyft driver.
Candia told police the victim “randomly got into his vehicle.” He said he was not patronizing the bar, but waiting outside because he had just dropped off an Uber client.
Documents show he told police the victim told her to take her home and mentioned giving her water from the bottle he was drinking from. Candia told police that he and the victim “hit it off, started kissing and then had sexual intercourse in his vehicle.”
He told police he didn’t believe the victim was intoxicated. According to documents, Candia told officers the victim’s underwear were left in his car and he was keeping them in his dresser. He also told police he had the victim’s socks and lip gloss.
Candia is charged with Sexual Battery.
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