Shadi Aziz Abdul

By CCT STAFF

A former Santa Maria Uber driver was sentenced on Thursday to one year in county jail for raping an intoxicated passenger after the he entered a guilty plea.

In April, a woman told police she had an Uber driver pick her up and drive her to a location in Santa Maria. Upon reaching the destination, the driver took her to another location and sexually assaulted her.

In May, ICE agents located 37-year-old Shadi Aziz Abdul at the United States-Mexico border in San Diego and arrested him.

On Thursday, Abdul was sentenced to one year in jail, five years of felony probation and ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

Last year, police arrested another Uber driver who was living in Santa Maria and accused of rape. Alfonso Alarcon-Nunez, an illegal immigrant who had previously been deported to Mexico, allegedly lured intoxicated women, including SLO County college students, into his vehicle. He then followed them inside their homes, sexually assaulted them, stole valuables from them, and charged them excessive amounts for their rides.

Additionally, in Nov. 2018, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s deputies arrested a Lyft driver, Jason Lamont Fenwick, for allegedly sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman and then burglarizing her Nipomo home.