PINECREST, Fla. – A man is accused of exposing himself to an Uber driver, then threatening to rape and kill her as she drove him from Cutler Bay to his home in South Miami early Monday morning.
According to an arrest affidavit, 21-year-old Matthew Manuel Ferro began to remove his clothing while in the back seat of the car as they drove through Pinecrest, near Southwest 67th Avenue and 98th Street, just before 3:30 a.m.
Ferro began touching himself and told the victim to touch him, police said. When she refused, he forced her to touch his penis.
He became aggressive after the Uber driver said she was calling 911, the report states, attempting to hit her and trying to take her cellphone “by force.”
The report states the victim felt in fear for her life and “imprisoned” by Ferro’s threats and actions.
When the driver pulled over and got out of the vehicle, Ferro told her “that he was going to rape her” and then told her “that he was going to kill her,” the report states.
With the vehicle stopped at Southwest 67th Avenue and 106th Street, Ferro began to get dressed, exiting the vehicle but leaving his underwear behind, investigators wrote. The Uber driver locked the car doors and Ferro tried unsuccessfully to get back in.
Pinecrest police officers canvassed the area and located Ferro just before 4:10 a.m. near Southwest 67th Avenue and 117th Street, officers wrote.
Investigators wrote that Ferro later told police that “he was (taking) drugs” and “did not remember anything.”
“He thought he was in South Miami when he was detained by the police,” the report states. “He said that we (police) didn’t have any evidence.”
Ferro was taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
He faces four felony charges: attempted kidnapping, attempted sexual battery, strong-arm robbery and battery with a prior conviction.
He has an extensive criminal background, including multiple battery cases.
A spokesperson for Uber, in a statement to Local 10 News, called the allegations “appalling” and had “no place on the Uber platform.”
“We are working to get in touch with the driver to check on her well-being, and we look forward to supporting law enforcement with their investigation,” the spokesperson said.