A man who was driving for a rideshare service was arrested and charged with a sexual assault after an incident on June 11th, according to an affidavit from the Travis County Sheriff’s Office.
According to the affidavit, it accuses Ololade Shoetan, 41, of sexually assaulting a woman that he had picked up while working for the rideshare company. The affidavit says that Shoetan had picked up the woman at her apartment building to drive her to work, and after initially making friendly small talk, Shotan pulled the vehicle in the Wells Branch neighborhood, before arriving to her destination.
Shoetan had requested several times that the woman take her facemask off and sit in the front seat next to him. After the woman had declined to do so many times, she eventually complied with him after saying Shoetan intimated her by continuously staring at her through the rearview mirror and speaking to her in a “forceful tone” which made her fearful of him. After she had complied to sit in the front seat is when the alleged sexual assault , according to the affidavit.
Also in the affidavit, it says that at wone point, the woman’s phone started to vibrate because she waslate for work and her coworkers w ere trying to contact her. Shoetan then took her phone from her during the alleged sexual assault.
Shoetan eventually dropped off the woman at work, according to the affidavit. The woman hysterically cried while telling her manager about the ordeal. The woman had told police she feared for her life during the alleged assault.
After the incident, the woman received 2 phone calls from a person that she believed to be Shoetan and thought that he was at the apartment complex that she lied in. She mentioned that the way Shoetan had parked his vehicle when initially picked her up prior to the incident, he was able to see her come out of her apartment, so she was fearful that he knew where she lived, the affidavit said.
The woman also mentioned that her mother had received 2 phone calls as well from a man that was believed to be Shoetan. The woman’s mother’s phone number is also listed on her rideshare account, so that is how she believes he had gotten her number, according to the affidavit.
Jail records show that Shoetan has bonded out of the Travis County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court on July 9th. A spokesperson for the company had said when asked how they keep their riders safe and if Shoetan was still driving for the company, they said, “Safety is fundamental to Lyft. The behavior described is appalling and we removed the driver from the Lyft platform as soon as we learned of these allegations. We have reached out to the rider to offer our support and have been in touch with law enforcement to assist with their investigation.”
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