A female Boston College student was allegedly raped by an Uber driver in September, and then was dropped off back at BC, according to court tapes obtained by The Boston Herald.
The Boston Globe initially reported that a woman was sexually assaulted and dropped off at BC by the driver, but the leaked tape, which The Herald did not make public, revealed that the woman was a BC student.
The perpetrator, Luis Baez, raped the student in his Uber car on Sept. 29, 2016, while she was intoxicated, prosecutors said on Tuesday. She was allegedly raped three times, in a parking lot and at several other sites, before she was dropped off at BC. She then immediately reported the incident to the Boston College Police Department.
BCPD was unable to comment immediately at press time. The Office of the Dean of Students said it did not have any additional information to what was reported by The Globe.
Baez’s defense attorney, John Benzan, said his client denies the charges against him. He said he drove the woman for only 22 minutes and therefore claimed it was not possible he could have done what she alleged in that short a period of time.
The Middlesex district attorney’s office said Baez was driving under the name Pedro Valentin. He was ordered held on $2,500 cash bail and ordered to stay away from the BC campus.
The tape obtained by the Herald reveals that Newton District Court Judge Mary Beth Heffernan cut arguments short and demanded the defendant pay $2,500 bail instead of the prosecution’s request for $100,000 bail and GPS monitoring of Baez’s location.
Baez was known to be part of the Mozart Street Gang and had been previously prosecuted and deported. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are looking for Baez but have not found him, according to The Herald. Massachusetts began using background checks in January on drivers for ride-hailing companies.
Another dreamer. . .
This is very bad. Where are the feminists? Newton District Court Judge Mary Beth Heffernan should be immediately fired and no longer able to serve as judge. She has lot the respect and goodwill of the people and laws she has sworn to serve and uphold.
Releasing a violent rapist who was deported and cutting off the poor feds half way in their sentence smacks of arrogance and a totally out of touch judge.