Uber Driver Mark Saunders, Accused Of Sexual Assault On Passenger, Agrees To Plea Deal
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) -- An Uber driver who was arrested after allegedly sexually assaulting a female passenger whom he drove home on Valentine's Day in 2019 agreed earlier this month to reduced charges.
Prosecutors originally charged Mark Saunders, 42, with felony sexual assault and misdemeanor sexual contact. But on March 8th, prosecutors with the 20th Judicial District Attorney's Office dismissed the sexual assault charge in exchange for simple felony assault.
Saunders is scheduled to officially agree to the offer at a sentencing hearing April 30th.
According to court documents obtained by CBS4, the woman called police Feb. 15th and said she woke up wearing a shirt she had not been wearing the night before. The woman told police that her roommate had seen a man in their home that night, and that she seems "very out of it" and the man seemed "pleasant" but "uncomfortable" and asked if he should leave.
The following morning, the woman opened the Uber app and showed her roommate a photo of her driver. The roommate confirmed it was the man who had been in their house.
DNA obtained through an exam was eventually matched to Saunders. Boulder officials took custody of him in December.
Other documents obtained by the Boulder Daily Camera indicate detectives monitored an exchange of text messages between Saunders and the woman. In that communication, Saunders said the woman invited him in but they didn't "have intercourse or anything. We just made out and you got naked." Saunders also wrote he realized the woman was intoxicated, "but I didn't realize you were that intoxicated."
