Abdoulaye Dia was released under supervision after his June arrest in Brooklyn; three months later, Maryland police say he kidnapped and raped a 17-year-old passenger while driving for Empower
Three months before Abdoulaye Dia was accused of kidnapping and raping a teenage passenger in Maryland, another teenage girl had already told police a disturbingly similar story in New York.
Abdoulaye Dia, 36, of Lanham, Maryland, was arrested Sept. 16 and charged with first-degree rape, kidnapping, second-degree assault and a third-degree sex offense. Montgomery County police say the 17-year-old ordered a ride through Empower shortly before midnight and alleged Dia deliberately drove past the route to her home, stopped in a Silver Spring parking lot and raped her inside the vehicle.
The teenager later reported the alleged assault to a family member, and police interviewed her at a hospital. Investigators identified Dia through information associated with the Empower app. He is being held without bond in Maryland. Police have said the circumstances of the case have led detectives to believe there could be additional victims. But Dia’s September arrest was not his first involving allegations of sexual misconduct against a minor. He is now being held in Montgomery County awaiting an Oct. 16 arraignment.
On June 10, Dia was arrested in Brooklyn following allegations involving a 14-year-old girl, according to the transcript of his arraignment obtained by Los Angeles Magazine.
The girl’s mother had arranged for her daughter to be picked up from a hair appointment and driven home. According to prosecutors, the mother spoke directly with Dia before the ride, told him her daughter was 14 and said she would pay for the ride when they arrived. She also tracked the vehicle as her daughter traveled home.
During the ride, prosecutors alleged, Dia began asking the girl sexually explicit questions, including whether she had ever had a boyfriend. Prosecutors told the court he suggested he could be her first boyfriend and allegedly told her he wanted to have sex with her.
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Prosecutors further alleged that Dia asked to see the girl’s genitals and requested that she send him a photograph. The girl recorded portions of the interaction on her cellphone, prosecutors said, and a detective reviewed those recordings before Dia’s arrest. The allegations then became physical, according to prosecutors.
They told the judge that Dia pulled the vehicle over, reached inside the 14-year-old’s pants and touched her genitals with his hand. The girl’s mother called during the ride and asked where she was. The girl said she was about two minutes away, according to the transcript. Dia then drove her home, where her mother paid for the ride. Prosecutors said the girl immediately told her mother that Dia had touched her inappropriately, prompting her mother to call 911.
Dia’s attorney denied the allegations in court, saying his client maintained that neither the alleged sexual conversation nor touching occurred. The defense suggested there had been “some animosity” involving a delay in picking up the girl and a subsequent disagreement with her mother.
Dia was charged with offenses including sexual abuse by forcible compulsion, forcible touching, acting in a manner injurious to a child under 17 and sexual abuse without consent, according to DHS and New York court records.
At Dia’s June arraignment, Brooklyn prosecutors asked the court to impose $10,000 cash bail, a $20,000 bond or a $20,000 partially secured bond, according to the transcript. Dia’s attorney argued for his release, telling the court that Dia appeared to have no prior criminal record, had a working telephone and was employed as a taxi driver. The defense also noted that the Criminal Justice Agency had recommended release on his own recognizance.
The attorney asked the judge to release Dia under supervision or, alternatively, impose substantially lower bail.
Judge Duane Frankson, who declined prosecutors’ request for monetary bail and instead ordered supervised release, was new to the bench. Frankson, a Brooklyn native and son of Caribbean immigrants, had been elected to Brooklyn Civil Court in November 2025, sworn in the following month and assigned to Brooklyn Criminal Court. He had been serving for roughly six months when Dia appeared before him. Judge Frankson also told Dia as he left the arraignment, “I wish you well, sir. God Bless you.”
The transcript shows Dia’s next court appearance was scheduled for Aug. 13, when the case was adjourned. Los Angeles has requested the transcript and court records for this hearing as well.
The Department of Homeland Security has since provided additional information about Dia’s immigration history. DHS told Fox News that Dia is a citizen of Guinea who entered the United States illegally near Lukeville, Arizona, in December 2023 and was subsequently released into the country by U.S. Border Patrol during the Biden administration. Fox reported that DHS identified the date of the crossing as Dec. 21, 2023. Of course, the immigration history is separate from the question of how the New York criminal case was handled.
Dia’s prior arrest has also raised a few eyebrows about how he was able to continue driving passengers through Empower after the New York case.
Empower told Fox News that the background check, sex-offender check, driving-record check, Social Security trace and global-watchlist search on Dia was conducted on July 16 (more than a month after his June 10 arrest) and “did not reveal any incidents.” Los Angeles has reached out to Empower as well and is awaiting a response.
Maryland regulators had already ordered Empower to cease operations in the state in July. According to FOX 5, one issue cited by state regulators was an alleged failure to adequately monitor drivers’ criminal and driving records, which regulators said posed a public-safety risk. Empower appealed that order.
Montgomery County police are now asking anyone who believes they may have had a similar encounter with Dia to contact the department’s Special Victims Investigations Division at 240-773-5050.
Dia has not been convicted in connection with either the New York allegations or the Maryland allegations.