He gave free ‘Uber’ rides before sexually assaulting drunk women, Missouri cops say
His business card identified him as a man named “Jay” who drove for Uber and Lyft, according to the felony probable cause statement obtained by OzarksFirst. The man’s car had Uber and Lyft stickers, according to court documents obtained by the Springfield News-Leader.
And he was offering free rides to women, the report said.
But this man was only pretending to work for Uber, the News-Leader reported. A spokesperson with the company told the newspaper he is not an “active” Uber driver. Lyft did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the News-Leader.
Now the man, 34-year-old Tyson Fairley, is accused of sexually abusing at least two women who he gave free rides to.
Fairley has been charged with rape, sodomy and two counts of sexual abuse in the first degree, OzarksFirst reported. Jail records show that Fairley was booked into the Greene County Jail on Tuesday. He is being held on a $100,000 bond.
One of the woman he is accused of assaulting told police she and her friends were highly intoxicated after drinking at a bar when a man approached them in a Missouri State University parking lot, the probable cause statement said. The woman said he offered the friends a free ride, and they got into his car. That was on May 11.
When the driver dropped the last friend off, he followed her into her apartment, police said. He then had sex with the woman while she was “too drunk to consent to anything,” the report says. Phone records showed police that the woman had texted her friends “I basically just got rapped.”
She then went to the hospital with a friend who had a business card in her purse from “Jay” — the man now identified as Fairley, according to the police report.
Then, about three months later, a woman reported she accepted a free ride from a driver named “Jay” while intoxicated on Aug. 16, the report says. During the ride, the man sexually assaulted her in the back of his car, police said.
Fairley was arrested after police used phone records to connect the number on Jay’s business card to a Tyson Fairley, the report says. Once police had a name, they found his address in Battlefield, Missouri.
Police then showed “photo lineups” to individuals who had contact with “Jay,” and all three women identified the same suspect driver. That driver was Fairley, the report says.
He was then arrested on Aug. 21, but police said they did not interview him about the incidents because he requested an attorney. During a search of Fairley’s home, officers found a photo of a man on a mirror. That photo was a “match” with a Facebook profile picture of “jay.fayley,” police said.
Police said they believe there may be more victims of Fairley out there, KY3 reported. If you have had contact with Fairley, contact the Springfield Police Department at 417-864-1810.
This story was originally published August 23, 2018 at 10:30 AM.