Uber Driver Arrested for Drugging Sexual Assault of Florida Tourist

Rafael Martinez, 42, was arrested in October 2025 and charged with one count of sexual battery on a physically helpless victim after investigators say he posed as an Uber driver and drugged and sexually assaulted a tourist in Miami Beach in January 2024. The victim told police she accepted a ride outside the Faena Hotel, was handed an open bottle of Vitamin Water, felt dizzy and passed out, and later woke up in an unfamiliar apartment—at one point being handed a shot and ultimately finding herself naked on a bed. A rape kit tested positive for seminal fluid and toxicology showed ethanol, acetone and a THC metabolite; DNA from the kit later matched Martinez. Surveillance footage tracked the victim and Martinez to his floor, building security reported seeing the disoriented woman hours later, and detectives identified the apartment as Park Place by the Bay where Martinez resides. Martinez, who worked as an Uber driver and reportedly sometimes offered bottled water to passengers, was booked into Miami-Dade jail without bond as the investigation continues and the case proceeds toward prosecution.