LEE COUNTY, Fla. — The former Uber driver convicted of raping a Lee County passenger will spend the rest of his life in prison.
According to the Lee County Sheriff's Office, Felix Torres was bringing a woman home to her Lee County apartment from Naples back in December 2022.
When she got home, the woman got out of the Uber and started to walk towards her apartment.
Deputies say she was pushed to the ground by Torres and she fought back.
However, he overpowered her and raped her, while wearing a mask.
He was convicted of Sexual Battery with Great Force While Masked in December 2024.
Torres has a lengthy criminal history, including arrests for armed robbery and breaking and entering.
Fox 4 Investigates looked into how Torres was able to pass a background check with Uber.
Uber told Fox 4 Investigates in December 2022 that all potential drivers are required to go through a background check.
RELATED COVERAGE: How an Uber driver charged with sexual assault passed the background check
“Drivers are re-screened annually and we also have a continuous background checks process in place that monitors for new offenses. Our process complies with local requirements and laws in the jurisdictions where we operate,” Uber said in a statement.
The screening process focuses specifically on convictions, not necessarily charges.
Despite the lengthy arrest record, no convictions are found on Torres’s record.
These kinds of alleged assaults are rare, but Uber’s own documents show thousands have occurred across the country.
Fox 4 Investigates pulled Uber’s safety reports.
The most recent data available shows between 2019 and 2020 there were 3,824 reports of sexual assaults.
That’s a 38% drop from 2017 and 2018, when there were nearly six thousand reports of sexual assaults.
Riders were the accused party in around 43% of those cases, according to Uber.
The report found 99.9% of all trips ended safely.
