BOULDER, Colo. — Boulder Police have arrested an Uber driver who is accused of sexually assaulting a passenger in February 2019.
According to an arrest affidavit from the Boulder Police Department (BPD), a woman called police on Feb. 15 and said she believed she had been sexually assaulted.
She told police she blacked out after drinking three shots of tequila and three beers at a friend's house the night before, the affidavit says, then called Uber just after 10 p.m. to take her home. She said she did not remember going home and had to look at her phone to see what time Uber had picked her up.
The affidavit says she woke up the next morning wearing only a t-shirt she was not wearing the night before.
The affidavit says the woman told an officer she remembered being in a dream-like state in her bed and seeing a man's face above hers. She said she later pulled up her Uber app and it displayed a picture of the driver, named "Mark," who had driven her home the night before. She believed the picture matched the man who had been on top of her, the affidavit says.
Police confirmed through Uber that the driver was Mark Saunders, now 41. He claimed the woman invited him in after they made out in the car, the affidavit says, but they didn't have sex. He said he knew the woman was intoxicated but didn't realize she was "that intoxicated."
In November 2019, the affidavit says police learned from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that a DNA sample taken from the woman matched Saunders' profile from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Offender Database.
Police learned Saunders had been arrested by Miami police for burglary with assault or battery attempt in 2013, but the charge was later dropped.
Saunders was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault (incapable of appraising) and unlawful sexual contact and was booked at the Boulder County Jail last week.
An Uber spokesperson released this statement in response to Saunders' arrest:
“What’s been described is horrible and something no one should ever go through. We’re working with law enforcement to support their investigation and continue to look into the incident. The driver no longer has access to the Uber app.”
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