Bus Driver Accused Of Raping Developmentally Delayed Woman In Miami Gardens
MIAMI GARDENS (CBSMiami) - A driver for Miami-Dade's Special Transportation Service is accused of raping a woman who is developmentally delayed.
Reynaldo Pineda, 63, has been charged with sexual battery and kidnapping.
The woman told investigators that she was in the transportation van with several other people last Monday and it was Pineda's job to take them to their homes.
The woman said she was the last one in the van but instead of taking her home, Pineda drove to the rear of a plaza in the 19900 block of NW 2nd Avenue in Miami Gardens.
Pineda then parked behind the plaza and then reportedly turned the surveillance camera inside the van so that it pointed toward the floor.
The woman said she was in the front passenger seat and Pineda then unzipped his pants and ordered her to perform a sex act on him. Fearing that he would get angry with her, the woman said she complied.
Pineda then reportedly told her to lay face down on a rear seat.
When she did, Pineda pulled down her underwear and sexually battered her, according to his arrest report.
Pineda then gave the woman some hand sanitizer and reportedly told her she couldn't tell anyone what had happened because he has a wife and kids and would lose his job. He then took her home.
Thoroughly upset by what she had endured, the woman did not tell her mother that night what had happened. The next day she told her mom via text what had happened after she arrived at the ADE Center for people with special needs. Her mother contacted the police who took Pineda into custody.
"We take the wellbeing and safe transport of all our customers very seriously. Immediately after being notified of the alleged incident involving a Special Transportation Service customer, the chauffeur working for Transportation America was removed from the County's contract so as to no longer drive STS clients," the county's Department of Transportation and Public Works said in a statement.
