A South Florida rideshare driver accused of picking up intoxicated women before possibly drugging and sexually assaulting them is facing additional charges after more alleged victims have been linked to the alleged crimes that police say involve another suspect.
Danny Estalin Maurad-Avecillas, 49, has been behind bars since he was arrested back in February on charges including credit card fraud and kidnapping.
On Sunday, police charged him with two more kidnapping counts along with two counts of sexual battery of a physically helpless victim, records showed.
According to arrest reports, the new charges were filed after disturbing incidents involving two young women were linked to Maurad-Avecillas.
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One alleged victim, 21-year-old woman, reported a possible sexual battery that happened on Sept. 29, 2023.
The woman said she'd gone out drinking and became separated from her friends around 2 a.m.
She ended up at a club in Mary Brickell Village and thought someone ordered her an Uber, and said she woke up in a vehicle.
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She said she had no recollection of the night until she was dropped off in a rideshare vehicle around 7 a.m. a few blocks from her home, the reports said.
The woman said she found her underwear in her purse and her phone, wallet and camera were missing.
A witness who assisted the woman in getting into the Uber asked the driver for his info, and later sent the victim a photo of the contact info with the name "Dani Uber" and a phone number, the reports said.
Records showed the phone number belonged to Maurad-Avecillas.
The witness was given a photo lineup and identified Maurad-Avecillas as the driver who picked up the victim.
A second alleged victim, a 22-year-old woman said that on Aug. 19, 2023, she went out to drink with co-workers in Brickell.
Around 2 a.m. on Aug. 20, she was unable to find her friends and ended up in a vehicle but had no recollection of how she got in the vehicle, the reports said.
She said she woke up in the vehicle and a man was on top of her raping her while a second man was driving the vehicle, the reports said.
The woman said she passed out and woke up around 7 a.m. and was told by one man to get out of the vehicle, the reports said.
The victim was given a photo lineup and identified Maurad-Avecillas as the man that put her in the vehicle and was driving while she was being sexually assaulted, the reports said.
The man accused of sexually assaulting the woman, 40-year-old Yadir Gongora, was arrested last year after police said he had posed as an Uber driver and picked up two women who believed he was their driver. Gongora allegedly sexually battered one woman and robbed the other.
Gongora was arrested earlier this year in connection with the August and September sexual assaults. He faces multiple charges of sexual battery, kidnapping and robbery.
The initial arrest of Maurad-Avecillas came after a tourist said he posed as her Uber driver and instead of taking her to her Airbnb, she woke up in a motel without her clothes on back on Jan. 12.
She claimed that he not only used her credit card to pay for the motel and to fill up his car with gas, but also sexually assaulted her.
Maurad-Avecillas later confessed that "on more than one occasion he has placed incoherent females into his vehicle, transported them to a motel and has removed their belongings to keep them safe from someone following them or tracking them," an arrest report said.
After his arrest, Miami Police Spokesperson Kiara Delva said Maurad-Avecillas also picked up two 27-year-old women and was with them for several hours.
"(A victim) told our detectives that it does appear that she was offered some sort of drink from the individual and that she also felt some sort of pain in her abdominal area, so she went to the hospital," Delva said.
The victims also said they felt pain, their jewelry was missing, and their credit cards had unauthorized gasoline charges.
In a statement from February, Uber said they removed the driver's access and are working with police.
Maurad-Avecillas, of Miami, remains held without bond, jail records showed.
