An Anchorage cab driver has been charged with sexually assaulting a female fare instead of taking her to her residence, Anchorage police said. Police got the call May 1. They arrested 28-year-old Paul Velasco on May 22, charging him with first-degree sexual assault.
The 42-year-old Native victim called police after the alleged attack, from the Tesoro gas station on Boniface Parkway just south of the Glenn Highway, said police spokeswoman Marlene Lammers. The woman, not named in the release, was crying on the phone when she called, Lammers said.
She'd been drinking at a friend's house in northeast Anchorage in the 5900 block of East Sixth Avenue. Her friend had called for the cab to return her to the residence on Newell Street where she was staying, police reported.
Instead, the Checker Cab driver took her to the Boniface Trailer Court, where he assaulted her before dropping her off at the gas station, she told police.
Velasco was booked in the Anchorage Jail, with bail set at $100,000. He is set to be arraigned at the Anchorage Jail Court. Anchorage detectives said in the release that Checker Cab owners cooperated throughout the investigation.