MIAMI – A Miami Uber driver is facing multiple felony charges after he stopped a ride with two 17-year-old girls and touched one of them inappropriately in a Coconut Grove parking lot, according to police.
Miami police arrested Kerry Cadet, 30, of Little Haiti, on Wednesday.
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According to an arrest report, the incident happened at around 1 a.m. on Sept. 8 after Cadet picked up the two teens from a party in Wynwood.
Authorities said as Cadet drove the girls to one of their homes, he “asked them if they wanted to stop somewhere to eat” and both said “maybe later.”
The report states that Cadet then asked if they wanted to stop the ride on the application “and without giving them a chance to reply, he ended the ride.”
Police said he pulled into an empty parking lot at 2150 S. Dixie Highway, reclined his seat, asked the girls if he could go into the back seat with them, then got into the back.
According to the report, Cadet asked the girls “if they can dance.” Police said one of them told him, “No, look at my legs” and he touched her thigh.
Cadet then grabbed the other girl’s thigh and breasts, police said; she told her friend to call another friend.
Authorities said when the other girl got out to call the friend, Cadet “pinched (the) nipple” of the 17-year-old still in the car.
The girl told police that she told her friend to “come back in the car so he wouldn’t touch her,” the report states.
Police said her friend got another call and left the vehicle. The report states Cadet then again touched the girl, putting his hand “inside her pants.”
“She removed his hand and told him they had to go home,” police wrote.
Authorities said surveillance video shows Cadet getting into the back seat.
“CCTV obtained from the incident location depicts the vehicle pulling into the empty parking lot, a male exiting the driver’s seat and entering the rear driver side door,” police wrote in the report. “Victim #2 is then seen exiting the vehicle and reentering. Victim #2 is then seen exiting the vehicle once again and while she is on the phone, Victim #1 exits the vehicle. They both get in the vehicle and the male subject exits the rear of the vehicle, (gets) back into the driver’s seat and drives off.”
Miami police detectives located Cadet during a traffic stop in Allapattah Wednesday afternoon, police said. Authorities said they found more than 40 grams of cannabis and a scale in his backpack.
Authorities said he denied touching the girls.
A judge found probable cause Thursday to charge Cadet with kidnapping, lewd and lascivious touching of certain minors, interference with custody, possessing more than 20 grams of cannabis and possession with intent to sell, along with a misdemeanor battery charge.
The judge ordered he remain jailed without bond.
Cadet was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center as of late Thursday morning, jail records show.
“What these riders went through is sickening,” an Uber spokesperson told Local 10 News. “We have a dedicated team that investigates reports of this nature and worked directly with law enforcement on this case. The driver has been banned from the Uber platform.”
Uber says riders must be at least 18 unless accompanied by an adult or using the Uber Teen platform. Riders can report incidents using a dedicated line.