Uber driver from Sacramento County guilty of sexual battery on UC Davis student
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- A Sacramento County Uber driver was convicted of sexual battery on a UC Davis student.
- He faces a maximum sentence of a year in jail for the two misdemeanor charges.
- The college student was heading home from a Davis Halloween party when she was assaulted.
A jury on Thursday found a Sacramento County man guilty of sexual battery for groping, kissing and fondling a UC Davis student on her way home from a Halloween party, prosecutors said.
Safiullah Miakhil, 46, of Carmichael, was convicted of two counts of misdemeanor sexual battery for the 2023 assault, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office announced Friday in a news release.
Deputy District Attorney Stefanie DeCillis, who prosecuted the case against Miakhil, said the young woman victimized “demonstrated immeasurable courage and tenacity” from the time of the assault to testifying in the trial about the traumatic event.
“I am very thankful to the jury who made the right decision and treated this case with the gravity it deserved,” DeCillis said in the news release. “This outcome signals that sexual assault cases, especially against those in vulnerable positions, will be treated with the utmost seriousness in Yolo County.”
The sexual assault occurred after midnight on Nov. 1, 2023. Prosecutors said the University of California, Davis student had attended a Halloween party in Davis earlier that evening and was on her way home using the Uber rideshare service.
When her Uber ride arrived at her home, Miakhil got in the vehicle’s back seat with the UC Davis student. Prosecutors said Miakhil then began to grope, kiss and fondle her against her will.
The Uber driver eventually let the woman go, and she reported the assault to police immediately, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Yolo Superior Court records show that Judge Clara Levers, at Miakhil’s March 3, 2025, arraignment hearing, ordered the Sacramento County man not to driver for the Uber or Lyft rideshare services and provide the court a proof of termination of services or suspension from Uber or Lyft as a condition to remain free from jail custody on his own recognizance until his criminal case has concluded.
Prosecutors said Miakhil, who remains free on his own recognizance, faces a maximum sentence of one year in the Yolo County Jail. Miakhil’s sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.
After Thursday’s guilty verdict, Judge Catherine Hohenwarter declared a mistrial on a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment without force or violence, court records show. The jury failed to reach a verdict on the false imprisonment charge.
The judge ordered a two-day trial on the false imprisonment charge to begin March 16. Hohenwarter scheduled Miakhil to return to court March 11 to determine whether the attorneys will be ready for the new trial.
“The jury’s conviction is an affirmation to the courageous young victim in this case and a warning to the depraved who dare to think that they will get away with such perverse misconduct,” District Attorney Jeff Reisig said in the news release. “We urge all riders to use caution when utilizing ride-sharing services and report any and all misconduct by drivers to authorities.”
Uber ordered to pay millions in separate, federal lawsuit
The Yolo County jury’s guilty verdict in the criminal case was reached on the same day a jury in a federal civil lawsuit in Arizona ordered Uber to pay $8.5 million to a woman who says one of its drivers raped her during a 2023 trip.
Sarah London, one of the attorneys representing the plaintiff in the federal lawsuit, said the verdict in Arizona “validates the thousands of survivors who have come forward at great personal risk to demand accountability against Uber,” the Associated Press reported. London said Uber has put the “focus on profit over passenger safety.”
Uber plans to appeal the verdict in the federal civil case. The Associated Press reported that the jury didn’t find Uber to be negligent or have defective safety systems.
Andrew Hasbun, an Uber spokesperson, said in a statement that the Arizona verdict “affirms that Uber acted responsibly and has invested meaningfully in rider safety. Hasbun said the jury-ordered award was “far below” the full amount initially requested from the plaintiff’s lawyers.
