ANCHORAGE, Alaska — An Anchorage cab driver was arrested Tuesday after allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in his cab earlier this month.
APD spokesperson Marlene Lammers says Paul Velasco, 28, is charged with one count of first-degree sexual assault.
Police responded May 1 to a Tesoro gas station on the 300 block of Boniface Parkway after a 42-year-old Alaska Native woman who had just been dropped off reported that she had been sexually assaulted by a Checker Cab driver.
The woman said she had been drinking at a friend’s house on the 5900 block of East 6th Avenue until shortly after midnight, when her friend called her a cab to take her to a residence where she was staying on the 200 block of Newell Street.
Instead of taking the woman home, Velasco allegedly drove the woman to a trailer court in the Boniface area and assaulted her, before dropping her off at the Tesoro station.
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Anchorage Cab Driver Arrested for Sexual Assault
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Other cab drivers arrested for sexual assaults against passengers include Chidiebere Nwokorie, who was arrested in August after allegedly assaulting a woman in the Ship Creek area, and Rafael Lopez Martinez, who was convicted last year of assaulting a woman in March 2010 near her home in East Anchorage.
In a statement Wednesday, Lammers thanked Checker Cab for its cooperation with an investigation of the incident by detectives with APD’s Special Victims Unit.
Velasco is being held at the Anchorage Jail on $100,000 bail. He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday afternoon.
This is a developing story. Please check KTUU.com and the Channel 2 newscasts for updates.
