According to police, a man acting as a rideshare driver frequented popular Miami nightclubs, looking for intoxicated women to sexually assault. Yadir Alejandro Gongora, 39, is facing sexual battery and kidnapping allegations after being arrested on Saturday in connection with two separate occurrences. He is being held at Metrowest Detention Center without bond.
In August 2023, a 22-year-old woman walked into the City of Miami Police Department and told investigators she had been sexually raped but couldn’t recall how. According to reports, the woman and two of her coworkers went out drinking and took an Uber to Candela, a bar in Brickell.
Later in the adventure, her phone ran out of battery, and she couldn’t locate her friends. According to the story, she chose to walk outdoors and ended up in a vehicle, but she couldn’t remember how she got inside. A man raped her while another man drove the automobile.
According to the complaint, the woman awoke about five hours later while still inside the vehicle. According to the allegation, one of the males then told her to exit at a Publix on 134 SW 13th Street.
The food store was about two minutes away from the bar. Police obtained information in May that led them to Gongora — which is redacted in the report produced in court this week. When police questioned Gongora on Friday, he said he didn’t know the woman and had never seen her before.
Gongora did, however, state that he provided individual rides from Wynwood and downtown Miami clubs, notably E11EVEN Miami and Club Space, according to the article. Gongora stated that he worked for a rideshare app from 2017 to 2019, but then began driving around regular customers who contacted him.
Is there a pattern of behavior?
A month later, in September 2023, a 21-year-old woman reported being sexually attacked similarly, according to a second report. The woman stated that she had been out drinking and got separated from her friends. She had no recollection of the night until she was dropped off near her home in the 16800 block of Northwest 67th Avenue.
She couldn’t remember if she or someone with her had requested a rideshare, but she did recollect being near 900 South Miami Avenue, roughly 30 minutes from her home, according to the report.
The woman said that her underwear was in her purse, but her phone, wallet, and camera were stolen. Gongora came to the police’s attention in May after they received information that was also censored in the report. When shown a photo of the victim, Gongora informed investigators something that was removed from the report.
Gongora had already been accused of sexual assault, thus these rideshare occurrences are not the first. In October, Gongora was charged with robbery by sudden snatching and sexual violence after allegedly posing as an Uber driver and raping a lady he had picked up from a Wynwood nightclub. In May, he was sentenced to two years probation for robbery. As of Monday evening, the specifics of the plea deal remained unknown.
