ANCHORAGE, Alaska — As Anchorage police investigate sexual assault charges against a cab driver who was arrested on Sunday, another taxi driver has been convicted of raping a woman in March 2010.
Rafael Lopez Martinez, 44, was convicted of second-degree sexual assault Wednesday.
Martinez was arrested after a woman he picked up at a Downtown hotel told police that he had raped her in the back seat of his cab near her home in East Anchorage. Police say the woman had been drinking with friends from Bethel at the Comfort Inn in Ship Creek and passed out on the ride to her home. The woman told police that when she regained consciousness, her jeans had been removed and Martinez was lying beside her.
Although Martinez was charged with second-degree sexual assault, his bail was set at $5,000 -- the same amount as 43-year-old Yellow Cab driver Chidiebere Nwokorie, who faces first-degree sexual assault charges after allegedly assaulting a woman in his cab.
