New charges filed against Uber driver in Miami as police identify more of his victims
A Miami rideshare driver was arrested in February after a woman he picked up from South Beach woke up in a motel room nude with bruises, fraudulent charges racked up on her credit card, missing more than $200 in cash — and no recollection of how she got there.
A month later, Danny Estalin Maurad-Avecilla faces multiple kidnapping and sexual battery charges after more woman have come forward saying they, too, were victims of his predatory behavior.
On Feb. 22, Miami police arrested 49-year-old Maurad-Avecilla on charges of fraudulently using the woman’s identification and credit cards.
His arrest came after the woman detailed to police that on Jan. 12, while vacationing in South Florida from California, she ordered an Uber from a bar to her Airbnb in Miami Beach.
READ MORE: Man poses as Uber driver. Tourist wakes up naked and bruised in Miami motel, cops say
Instead, she found herself in a motel in Little Havana — Hotel 77 — with “no recollection on how she got there,” police said in their report. She told police that she was covered in bruises and had pelvic pain, as well as discomfort in her knee.
A clerk at the motel told police that Maurad-Avecilla used the woman’s credit card to rent a room for six hours. The clerk also said he saw Maurad-Avecilla take the woman, whom the clerk said appeared to be intoxicated, inside the room.
Stolen cell phones, driver’s licenses and EpiPens
Since Maurad-Avecilla’s initial arrest, police said three more women have reported similar stories about their encounters with him.
On Feb. 19, one woman, who was vacationing from Virginia, said she went with friends to the Perro Negro nightclub in Wynwood. Her last recollection was using the restroom at the club, then waking up at Motel 77 with bruises on both inner thighs, according to a police report.
Her cell phone and Apple watch were also missing, police added.
The woman explained to police that she did not order an Uber that night.
Detectives watched security camera footage from the motel and saw a man fitting Maurad-Avecilla’s description exiting an SUV and dragging the woman out of the car. He then put her over his shoulder and went inside the motel.
The room was paid for with the woman’s credit card, police said, using her Virginia driver’s license as identification to finalize the charge.
Two days later, two women on vacation from Arizona had their own run-in with Maurad-Avecilla, according to police.
The pair said on Feb. 21 they ordered an Uber to take them from Club Space in Miami to the Rooney Palace in South Beach.
A driver who police say is Maurad-Avecilla pulled up in a gray SUV. Once the women were inside, one of them recorded what transpired next on her cell phone. After roughly five minutes, Maurad-Avecilla told them the Uber had cancelled on the app, and they needed to pay him directly.
One of the women gave him a bank card, but he said it did not work, according to the police report.
He played loud music inside the car and gave the women shots from a margarita mix, as well as a Corona beer, police added.
During the ride, which should have taken about five minutes, one of the women told police she fell in and out of sleep. At one point, she said she woke up to find Maurad-Avecilla standing outside of the car.
She asked him if he would just take them back to their hotel. When he asked the address, the women could not recall, but told him to take them to 1 Hotel on Miami Beach, because she remembered it was next to their hotel, according to the report.
When Maurad-Avecilla pulled up to the hotel, the woman informed police that a valet attendant rushed up to the car and helped her inside the building because she had trouble walking.
By the time the women woke up in their room, their cell phones were gone, as were two EpiPens. The women later noticed unauthorized charges on their credit cards, police said.
Detectives got a warrant for Maurad-Avecilla’s cell phone, where they found photos of the women’s credit cards, as well as a picture of one of their driver’s licenses, according to the report.
Maurad-Avecilla is being held in Miami-Dade Metro West Detention Center on no bond for the kidnapping and sexual battery charges and a total bond of $8,000 for the charges relating to fraudulently using the credit cards.
He’s being represented by the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office, which could not be immediately reached for comment.
This story was originally published March 27, 2024 at 6:00 AM.
