Man poses as Uber driver. Tourist wakes up naked and bruised in Miami motel, cops say
A California tourist visiting South Beach in January hopped into the vehicle of whom she presumed was her Uber ride, only to wake up hours later in a Miami motel naked with bruises, hundreds of dollars missing from her wallet, several credit card transactions overnight and no recollection of how she got there.
More than a month later, police say they have identified the man who posed as her driver — and they don’t believe it’s the first time he used such tactics to lure women waiting for their rideshares.
Danny Estalin Maurad-Avecillas, 49, was arrested Thursday on fraudulent use of a credit card and fraudulent use of an ID card charges. Two days later, investigators said they suspect Maurad-Avecillas would prey on unsuspecting women by “intoxicating, robbing and possibly sexually assaulting them.”
Authorities hinting that their could more victims indicates other charges could be on the horizon for Maurad-Avecillas.
On Jan. 12, an arrest report shows the woman, who traveled to South Florida from California, told police she woke up at the Motel 77 in Little Havana with “no recollection of how she got there.” After a night out, she had ordered an Uber to take her from a bar to her Airbnb in South Beach.
An Uber driver was supposed to pick her up in was a gray Honda car, the report says. A gray Chevy Traverse pulled up, and a witness advised the woman that the gray vehicle wasn’t her Uber. But around 2:45 a.m., surveillance camera footage shows her getting into the vehicle.
From that point, all that she remembers is being woken up by a cleaning lady at the motel, police say. The victim reported feeling pelvic pain and discomfort in her left knee. She had bruises all over her body, and her purse was missing $240.
Investigators, the report says, tracked Maurad-Avecillas down through a series of transactions made on the woman’s credit card. At around 6 a.m., he was caught on tape pumping gas at a BP gas station in a gray Traverse.
Footage from the motel also captured the same vehicle at the location the night of the incident, according to the report. An attendant told police Maurad-Avecilla used the victim’s identification to rent the room for six hours. They also witnessed him “escort” the woman, who appeared to be intoxicated, into the room.
‘No way... I was not drugged’
On Friday, the victim confronted Maurad-Avecilla in a bond court appearance, according to footage published by Local 10. The woman detailed the incident and said he “made [her] believe” he was her Uber.
“I don’t know what they did to me,” she said. “The injuries that I have, there is no way if I was not drugged, that I would have been able to tolerate the pain.”
At the appearance, Judge Mindy Glazer expressed concern over the “horrible” allegations against Maurad-Avecilla. He’s being held at the Miami-Dade Metro West Detention Center without bond, jail records show.
“I don’t think she consented to being taken to the location,” the judge said.
Anyone with information should call the department’s Special Victims Unit at 305-603-6300 or 305-579-6111.
