WASHINGTON — A cab driver from Silver Spring, Maryland, will spend the better part of the next decade in prison for assaulting a passenger last year.
Yared Mekonnen, 24, pleaded guilty in September to sexually assaulting the woman, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for D.C. He was charged with second-degree sexual abuse and attempted kidnapping.
Judge Hiram E. Puig-Lugo sentenced Mekonnen to 9 years in prison with 20 years supervised release. He will also be required to register as a sex offender.
Mekonnen was driving the victim and her boyfriend home after they had been drinking in the U Street area on May 28. The boyfriend, prosecutors said, had left the cab for some reason. Once he was alone in the cab with the woman, Mekonnen prevented her from getting out and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said.
“There was a struggle, and while attempting to convince the victim not to call
for help, Mekonnen grabbed her cellphone and it fell out of the window,” said U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu in a statement.
Another driver saw the struggle between the victim and Mekonnen, and intentionally pulled in front of the cab, forcing it to stop, prosecutors said.
