From the Moraga Police Department:
On May 26, 2017, at approximately 1:03 a.m., Moraga Police received a report of a sexual battery that had occurred on Camino Ricardo in Moraga. When officers responded, they discovered that a female victim had taken an Uber ride to Moraga from Oakland. When the Uber vehicle reached Moraga, the Uber driver stopped before reaching the destination, got into the backseat of the vehicle with the victim and sexually battered her.
Officers investigated the incident and through information obtained through a number of sources, including the victim and the Town’s traffic cameras, were able to identify the suspect as Leonid Beker, 42, of San Francisco. Beker was later located and arrested in San Francisco, with the assistance of the San Francisco Police Department Special Victims Unit. Beker was interviewed about the incident and later booked into the Contra Costa County Jail in Martinez for felony sexual battery. Beker later posted bail and was released.
The investigation into this incident is continuing. Anyone who may have information about this incident or any related incidents is asked to contact Detective Kevin Mooney at 925-888-7056.
I’ll never understand the mind-set of anyone who uses highly unregulated businesses. Uber, Airbnb, Craigslist, etc. You’re setting yourself up. Wise up.
Getting in a car with a total stranger (man or woman) should be against your better judgment. Anything could happen, and it does.
I’m glad he was arrested, and I hope she learned a valuable lesson. Sadly, the damage is done.
Ewww!
I have to show some compassion for the person who was raped after the last comment. It reminded me a little of blaming a woman who is raped for dressing too provocatively. What an awful thing to say that she hopes she has learned a valuable lesson. Instead I hope the horrible thing she experienced will not cause her to be overly afraid in the future. And that face….ewww!
How awful. Prayers for the victim.
My basic nightmare scenario. So sorry…..
Moraga has traffic cameras?
So many revenge fantasies come to mind whenever something like this happens. I hope the victim is getting the hope and support they need right now.
What goes through someone’s mind that they can think of doing something like this to someone?
I’m the first person to admit that “I hope she learned a valuable lesson” isn’t the nicest thing to say. But it’s better than being raped.
Women can’t jump in a car with a total stranger, especially a man, especially at 1:03 a.m. Trust is like respect, it has to be earned. If a woman is dressed “too provocatively” – that’s her decision. But I dress stylishly and conservatively, and it sends a message to men “she respects herself.” I’m happily married, and I dressed like that when I was single.
I grew up with three brothers, and a house where everyone hung out. My Dad taught me at a very early age to “respect myself.” He didn’t have to tell me about men. I already knew. Men are wired differently, and women of all ages need to keep this in mind.
Anyone could be victimized, but I can honestly say I’ve never been victimized. It’s not luck.
Take Uber at your own risk. It wouldn’t be me.
I’m not saying anything a lot of other people aren’t thinking. I’m just saying it. If it stops one woman from being victimized – it was well worth it.
Uber seems to be in the news alot for such things lately.Shame.
I feel sorry for regulated taxi cab drivers, who carry a lot more insurance and permits and are regulated more stringently, yet are losing their business to Uber.
Danielle, you need help. This woman used a business service. Drivers undergo a background check. Rather than focusing on the fact that a man sexually assaulted this woman which is always wrong, under any circumstances, you are focusing on the fact that she took an Uber and which thousands of people do ever day. You are absolutely, 100% victim blaming and you should be ashamed. Go take your fantasy moral superiority somewhere else. I hope you don’t have children.
Ok, he’s not a good looking frat boy. I don’t think that is relevant. I don’t think how she was dressed is relevant. She was assaulted!
She is a human being. One of us!
This stuff is getting out of hand. I thought every move those cars made was plotted and logged. The guy must be bats.
@David his looks are not relevant. It’s just that from a female perspective it’s hard not to imagine myself in her place, being raped by this man, and there’s something not right about the way he looks that makes it all the more disturbing. @Michael, totally agree he must be bats. He must have known he would be caught yet did it anyway.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Guys, we have a lot of folks here with us tonight and some of you are new. No name-calling, flaming, calling other people out in a heavy-handed fashion, etc. If you must insult someone, please find an inventive way to do it. Think: Dorothy Parker…
Women need to protect themselves. A lot of women are naïve, and they don’t think anything will happen to them. Uber is NOT SAFE for women late at night.
I AM focusing on women NOT taking Uber late at night. That’s my point. Just because “thousands of people” take Uber doesn’t mean it’s safe.
Uber is “internet hitchhiking.”
@Danielle that is exactly the point! You keep focusing on what you believe the woman did wrong. She did nothing wrong. She still deserved “respect” from her driver regardless of your rapist enabling opinions. The fault was not with her as you seem to believe. A woman who truly respects herself knows this.
It’s everywhere and you have to be careful today, which sounds pretty dumb especially when something like this happens to someone. But there are bad people among us and they can be cops and lawyers and doctors and teachers and uber drivers. Right now I think they good have them outnumbered. I hope.
Terrible. Glad they caught him.
Loser.
I’ve used them a couple of times and it seemed like a pretty good service. The driver was friendly and talked about the business — which I guess is tightly controlled and not always in the driver’s favor. But I got the impression that every move that car made was tracked??? CAn’t see how this person thought he would be able to get away with this. And I hope the victim gets her chance to look him in the eye before they send him to prison.
Fair trial and many years in jail if they find him guilty.
Pamela, anybody who’s ever read my comments knows I have ZERO TOLERANCE for highly unregulated businesses, including Uber and Airbnb. The only thing you get from “sharing economy” is an INCREASED RISK of danger.
I got an e-mail a friend of mine in Orinda last night who read my comments on this thread. She was raped in Miami at the age of 19 as a college student. I had no idea. She thanked me for “taking the heat and warning women of the dangers we face” and the rest is personal.
My goal is to protect other women from ending up in this position. I understand it’s offensive to some, but there isn’t anything I can do to change what happened to the lady in Moraga. I can warn other women not to put themselves in harms way, and if that’s offensive to you as a woman, then perhaps it’s best that you don’t read my comments.
IT’S NOT SAFE FOR WOMEN TO GET A CAR WITH A MAN LATE AT NIGHT – PERIOD. As far as your comment on Facebook that someone won’t do this because Uber knows who they are is naïve. This guy is a SEXUAL PREDATOR, AND SEXUAL PREDATORS DON’T CARE ABOUT THE LAWS. WISE UP.
It is the sexual predators fault, but that won’t stop me from warning women of the dangers we face. I just did – again.
What a sad story. I hope the victim is ok, as much as one can be after such an incident. If convicted, I hope the man is sentenced to the full extent of the law.
So very sorry to read about this. It is a deep ingrained fear every woman has and that it should come to be in this way is horrifying. Additonal facts would be welcome but to some of the commentators here I would ask — who among you has never taken a late night cab home?? Now it’s Uber or Lyft. So sad.
Siobhan, it is a deep ingrained fear every woman has, and that’s why we have to protect ourselves. I’ve never taken a late night cab home. I’ll take a cab (but not Uber or Lyft) but not late at night.
I wouldn’t fly into Oakland at that hour, but if I did I would have my husband, my Dad, my brothers, my young adult sons or a male friend or male friend of my husband pick me up.
Men have to be cautious of armed robbery, but they don’t have to worry about sexual assault.
Stay safe ladies…
I get the comment symbol but what does the eye at the top of your stories mean?? Number or readers???
@Christine – That’s the number of times that particular page has been “opened” or read. It’s a counter.
As of yesterday, the debate is still going on (News24/680 Facebook). The latest is “Uber does a better backround check than the daytime job.”
For those of you who take Uber, do your realize that the drivers are unlicensed and uninsured for pay? Your personal auto insurance won’t cover for commercial driving. If you get in an accident, you’re SOL. Also – some states require a commercial license for over 10 hours of work. Whether they’re employees or independent contractors, you’re rolling the dice. Good luck.
I googled Uber, and there are stories of murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, identify theft, etc. The most pathetic story (sitejabber.com) was a guy on the way to the hospital, and the Uber driver stopped at a bar and got drunk instead. Have someone you know or an ambulance take you to the hospital. Also – the driver can cancel the ride for no reason, and you’re stuck with the cancellation fee.
Lastly, I read “confessions of Uber drivers.” Men were admitting to getting a job driving Uber late at night to pick up women for the purpose of sexual assault. They targeted bars (drunk women) and airports (women who are tired). Uber drivers are UNPROFESSIONAL DRIVERS, and taxis are PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS. Licensed, insured, etc.
Uber was fined 7.4 billion a few years ago in CA for not turning over data to the PUC. What’s in the data – what are they hiding?
As far as backround checks, all it means is you’ve never been arrested. Unless you have a “complete backround check” which most employers won’t do (not cost effective) they will only run a backround check on the county you live in. If you’ve been arrested, all you do is leave the county off that you were arrested in, and they’ll never know. I’ve actually worked with a man who did this (he was licensed with the state), and he was stupid enough to tell me. He didn’t care.
If you insist on doing business with this FLAKY COMPANY, at least do your homework, and know what you’re getting yourself into. Rider beware…