Man jailed for sexually assaulting woman after he offered her an Uber ride: cops

A tourist leaving a Miami Beach hotel after a night of drinking was sexually assaulted by a man who offered her a ride home in January 2024, according to police. Nearly two years later, a man has been jailed.

The woman told police she was out with a friend at the Faena Hotel, 3201 Collins Ave., in January 2024. After her friend left, she stayed to finish her drink and tried to order an Uber. That’s when, police say, 42-year-old Rafael Martinez approached and offered her a ride to her Airbnb.

According to Martinez’s arrest report, the woman remembered getting into Martinez’s car and asking for water. She said he handed her a vitamin water, after which she became dizzy and passed out.

She later woke up on a couch inside an unfamiliar apartment, where a man offered her tequila. The next thing she remembers, she was naked and alone in a dark room with her clothes neatly folded nearby, police say. Disoriented, she got dressed and eventually made it to the front of the building, where she ordered an Uber back to her Airbnb, she told police. Her friend urged her not to shower and to call police.

A rape kit conducted at the Roxcy Bolton Rape Treatment Center tested positive for seminal fluid, and toxicology results showed ethanol, acetone and THC metabolite in her system, police said.

Detectives later identified the apartment as 915 NW 1st Street. The property manager told police he saw the woman at the entrance without a key fob, appearing intoxicated and confused. Security staff recalled seeing her around 7 a.m. asking where she was and declining help before leaving in an Uber, an arrest affidavit reads.

Surveillance footage showed the woman and Martinez riding the elevator together and getting off on his floor, but there’s no CCTV footage facing his apartment. She was later seen walking toward the exit alone.

An administrative assistant of the building told detectives Martinez worked as an Uber driver who often offered passengers bottled water and sometimes accepted rides and payments outside the app.

In June, detectives obtained a DNA warrant for Martinez and detectives later read him his rights at his apartment — the same address where the woman woke up. Police say Martinez admitted working as an Uber driver but denied knowing the woman or having sex with her. A DNA sample was collected despite his initial refusal.

On Oct. 7, a photo of Martinez was shown to the victim who said she did not have consensual sex with him.

Martinez was arrested Tuesday and charged with sexual battery on a physically helpless victim. He’s being held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on no bond as of Wednesday afternoon.