Prosecutors say the driver Uber has been kidnapped and fumbled. It was billed $ 1,047.

The woman called an Uber car in Manhattan late in the February night to take her home to the nearby suburb of White Plains, in the state of N. She was exhausted and fell asleep on the seat back.

She woke up to find that the car had stopped and that the driver was at the back with her, her hand under her shirt, touching her chest, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. The woman took her mobile phone to ask for help, but the driver caught her.

He ended up leaving her on the side of Interstate 95 near New Haven, Connecticut, prosecutors said. His credit card was then charged $ 1,047.55 for a trip to Massachusetts.

The driver, Harbir Parmar, 24, of Howard Beach, Queens, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with kidnapping and wire fraud, the government said. If he is convicted of kidnapping, he risks life imprisonment. (Mr. Parmar has not been charged with alleged touch.)

The incident, described in a criminal complaint not disclosed Tuesday in federal court in White Plains, was not only the nightmare of all taxi passengers, but it also highlighted a long-standing debate over the selection of taxi drivers and taxi drivers and on the question of whether other warranties, such as panic buttons on the back seat, are needed.

"No one – man or woman – should fear such an aggression when they simply hire a car service," said Geoffrey S. Berman, US attorney for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Berman announced the charges with William F. Sweeney Jr., head of F.B.I. in New York, and James P. O'Neill, the New York Police Commissioner.

"This person's behavior goes far beyond the efforts of ridesharing companies who want to revise their codes of ethics and put more emphasis on checking the background of their drivers," said O'Neill.

Uber said in a statement that he had "fully cooperated" with the forces of the order and would support his investigation.

"What has been reported is horrible and something no one should live on," the company said. "As soon as we became aware of it, we immediately removed that person's access to the platform."

Picture

The company said Parmar had been stuck since the Uber app in February and had not made any moves on the Uber platform since that date. Uber also said the woman's fare had been paid back in a few days.

Parmar appeared before a magistrate, Judith C. McCarthy, in White Plains federal district court on Tuesday. She fixed the bond at $ 100,000, secured by $ 10,000 in cash from Mr. Parmar's parents, who were in the courtroom.

"The presumption of innocence remains with my client," said Parmar's federal defender Susanne Brody at the hearing.

Throughout the hearing, Mr. Parmar's mother leaned his clenched fists on his pursed lips and rubbed his face with a gray scarf.

Allan J. Fromberg, a spokesman for the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission, said the board had suspended the work of T.L.C. from Mr Parmar. license "pending the criminal case". Mr. Fromberg testified that Mr. Parmar was charged with T.L.C. license since December 2015.

According to the complaint, Mr. Parmar recovered the woman, who was not named, in a Toyota Highlander 2016 around 23:30. February 21.

After the attack, she tried unsuccessfully to recover his phone from Mr. Parmar, but he denied having received it, according to the complaint.

Mr. Parmar returned to the place before and resumed driving, according to the complaint. The woman, not recognizing her entourage, then asked Mr. Parmar to drive her to White Plains or a police station, but he refused.

Mr. Parmar finally stopped and left it beside I-95, where she memorized and then noted her license plate number. It was around 2 am when she entered a convenience store located in Branford, Connecticut, and called a cab to take her to White Plains, the government announced.

When Mr. Parmar was questioned by law enforcement officials in July, he stated that he knew that the woman had asked to be filed in White Plains, according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, Mr Parmar said he changed the destination of his Uber mobile app to settle in Massachusetts after falling asleep.