HOUSTON – A Texas couple has pleaded guilty to beating and carjacking an Uber driver in Houston last fall.
Frank Lewis Blanco, 28, and Destinee Guerrero, 25, ordered an Uber around 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 13 and continued changing their destination, causing the driver to ferry them around Houston for roughly half an hour, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Texas.
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The Uber driver then asked the couple to get out of the car, but when they refused he pulled up to a gas station and asked the attendant to call the police.
While waiting for the police to arrive, the couple still refused to get out of the driver’s car and started attacking him.
Blanco and Guerrero knocked the driver unconscious, repeatedly stomped and kicked his body and then stole his car, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
“This couple senselessly beat an Uber driver unconscious for doing nothing more than trying to give them a ride,” said U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. “My late father was a cab driver, and I can’t imagine the horror and fear he would have felt in that same situation.”
U.S. District Judge David Hittner accepted the guilty pleas from Blanco and Guerrero and set a sentencing date for Sept. 21.
They each face up to 15 years in prison as well as a possible $250,000 maximum fine.
“Once again, violent criminals thought they were entitled to break the law and get away with it. In this case, to savagely beat their Uber driver and steal his vehicle,” said Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Houston Field Office James Smith.
The court ordered Blanco and Guerrero into custody following their plea on Friday. They were previously released on bond but will now remain in custody until pending sentencing.