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Uber driver accused of sexually assaulting passenger is arrested in Boulder

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BOULDER, Colo. – An Uber driver accused of sexually assaulting a passenger in Boulder last year has been arrested, police said

Mark Saunders, 41, faces charges of sexual assault (incapable of appraising) and unlawful sexual contact, according to an arrest warrant affidavit. He was booked into the Boulder County Jail on Thursday.

The victim told police that she had gone to a friend's house and drank alcohol on the night of Feb. 14, 2019, before heading home in an Uber. When she woke up the next morning, she began remembering details from the night before and contacted police, the affidavit said.

The woman told an officer that she remembered being in her bed, with a man on top of her, and that she believed the man was her Uber driver. She showed the officer a picture of the Uber driver on her Uber app and said it was the same man who was on top of her.

The victim's roommate also confirmed to police that the Uber driver was the same man in their home the night before, the affidavit said.

Police knew the driver's first name from the app and that he was driving a 2015 Hyundai with a Colorado license plate. Detectives later confirmed Saunders as the Uber driver through phone records and confirmation from Uber, the affidavit said.

In November, detectives received confirmation that a DNA profile from the Boulder case matched a sample from Saunders that had been collected in Florida, the affidavit said. Saunders had been arrested on a charge of burglary with assault in Miami, Fla., in 2013, but the case was later dropped.

Boulder police filed the arrest warrant affidavit for Saunders in December and he was taken into custody this week.