I-Team: Uber Driver Accused Of Rape Used Fake City Permit
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DALLAS (CBS11) - Dallas city officials are wanting answers from the popular ride-sharing service Uber after the CBS 11 I-Team discovered an Uber driver, accused of raping a passenger, used a fake Dallas city permit.
Talal Chammout, 56, was arrested Friday after investigators say he followed a passenger into her home and sexually assaulted her.
Chammout has a prior criminal record, including serving prison time on a federal weapons conviction.
However, Chammout's felony criminal past was not caught by Uber when he signed up to be a driver.
A spokesperson for the ride-sharing company said Uber is "conducting a thorough internal review" to determine how this happened.
Uber said it does criminal background checks on all of its drivers.
When applying to be a driver, Chammout supplied Uber with what appeared to be a City of Dallas limousine operator's license.
When the CBS 11 I-Team bought this license to the city's attention, city officials investigated and determine the license to be fraudulent.
"We can say with 100-percent certainty that Chammout was not permitted to be a driver in the city of Dallas," said city spokesperson Sana Syed.
Syed said Uber should have verified that permit with the city's online database.
"In this case that clearly did not happen," said Syed. "Had (Chammout) applied with us, he would have never been permitted - period."
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