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The Uber driver had fooled Andrew Mendez, 30, into waiting while she ran into a Paterson grocery store to get something to drink, an indictment returned by a state grand jury says.
Officers who seized Mendez also found an imitation handgun that the driver said he’d “racked” during their ride, it says.
Mendez has remained in the Passaic County Jail ever since the incident on Feb. 16, 2020.
That night, authorities said, the Uber driver picked him up in Palisades Park for what was to be a ride to Pearl Street and Rosa Parks Boulevard.
Once they arrived at their destination behind Paterson Eastside High School, Mendez got out but then quickly re-entered the vehicle, the indictment returned in Paterson says.
Mendez then asked the driver for oral sex, to which she refused it says.
“It’s either that or your life,” he told her, the driver said.
She then convinced him that she needed something to drink first. So they went to a nearby grocery store, where the driver called police while Mendez waited outside, the indictment says.
The grand jury indictment, secured by Senior Assistant Passaic County Prosecutor Anneris Virginia Hernandez, charges Mendez with attempted aggravated sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, aggravated assault and weapons offenses involving an imitation firearm.
A first court appearance on the indictment hadn’t yet been scheduled as of Friday.
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