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Uber driver convicted of raping college students in SLO

March 27, 2021

Alfonso Alarcon-Nune

A San Luis Obispo County jury found an Uber guilty on Friday of 13 counts including rape, sexual assault and grand theft that were perpetrated against five victims.

The initial four victims were all SLO County college students, three of whom attended Cal Poly and one of whom attended Cuesta College. The fifth assault took place in Santa Barbara.

Alfonso Alarcon-Nunez, 39, is an illegal immigrant who was once deported to Mexico yet was living in Santa Maria, in possession of a driver’s license and working as an Uber driver. Alarcon-Nunez lured intoxicated women into his vehicle, followed them inside their homes, sexually assaulted them, stole valuables from them and charged them overly excessive amounts for their rides home.

Alarcon-Nunez faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. His sentencing is scheduled for April 26.


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When was the last time you heard about a yellow cab driver assaulting a customer?


Uber business model is exploitive on all fronts. Users ultimately pay for that cheap ride.

Uber should face some penalty here as well.

They could GPS track someone and know he was returning to a customer residence that did request a return visit.

Any “unmatched” return to a customer location would indicate a driver casing a customer.


All the tech was there to prevent this “Gig Economy rape”.


Surf Taxi welcomes your business.


11

Yet another buggy-whip manufacturer trying to warn you of the dangers of replacing your horse-drawn carriage with an automobile.


I believe the U.S. Government should be held to the same level of responsibility as you suggest Uber be for allowing Alarcon-Nunez back into the country after he was deported. What about California issuing a driver’s license to someone who had already been deported once?


Most law enforcement officers support services such as Uber and Lyft because they have contributed to greatly reducing the number of DUI/DWI cases in California. I’m sure many of you who have lived in SLO for a few years can remember the days of having to wait 1-2 hours for a cab after the bars closed at night. Getting a cab to respond at night to smaller towns like Pismo Beach or Morro Bay was mostly impossible.


I went to college in San Francisco in the 1990s. I remember the occasional report of bad behavior and sexual assault by cab drivers. More often, I remember hear numerous stories of fake cab drivers laying in wait outside of popular nightclubs and taking advantage of riders by either assaulting them or grossly overcharging them. San Luis Obispo has never had a taxi service that could handle the huge number of rides provided by Uber and Lyft. When any business experiences explosive growth, there will always be problems.


What Mr. Yan fails to mention, is that Uber and Lyft have intensified both their technology and background checks to further protect customers from these sort of attacks.


I’m sure “Surf Taxi” provides excellent service to the customers that use them. I suggest you call them first at 2am on St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, Cal Poly graduation, or New Year’s Eve and see how quickly they respond. Few of you remember that Rachel Newhouse chose to walk home back in 1998 when she couldn’t get a taxi to respond within an acceptable time frame. I do believe that women are infinitely safer riding Uber or Lyft home after a night of drinking than they are by staggering across town.


The left absolutely HATE all things gig economy. Gig economy employees don’t have taxes withheld from their checks (so the government doesn’t get their share until tax time), and gig economy employees rarely express any desire to unionize. Nothing pisses off the left more than having a section of the population they can’t completely control.


Do you want to talk about the “exploitative” policies of big corporations? Let’s discuss Apple, Nike, or Converse and their use of both child labor and prison labor in China.


27

Wow. A bit over the top for a cynic…everbody_lies.


We can n talk about apple et al. Make some points to discuss. Puffery.


-6

Where did I ever say the companies you mention weren’t exploitive? Nowhere. Which makes your reply the equivalent of shouting at the wind.

Uber can use their tech to make people safer and they choose not to. That was the extent of my point. Cheerlead for them all you want.

You can’t logically make a leap about my position’s on Apple from my point about Uber. I can read just fine. Your counter argument was based assumptions and made a point that was not in contention. So really a lot of useless words. 8 Paragraphs worth.


1

Now if we can make Paul Flores his cellmate…


21

Hmmmmmmm. If Uber / Lyft were only available back when Kristen Smart needed a ride back to her dorm……….


11

So then Paul would be the Uber/Lyft driver, what’s the point?


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