Victim Shares Story Of Alleged Sexual Assault By Dallas Rideshare Driver: 'I Can't Keep This To Myself'
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - A rideshare driver connected to at least four sexual assaults, also allegedly used a dating app to meet one woman who said she was a victim.
Dallas Police arrested Talyle Meaderds in October, after an arrest warrant affidavit says detectives recognized similarities in sexual assault cases they were working, and the victims in each picked the 28-year-old out of a photo lineup.
Andrea Robinson said she was attacked in August, after going to see a movie with Meaderds.
CBS 11 does not usually identify victims in sexual assault cases, but Robinson said she wanted to face the incident head-on and empower others, if they chose to, to also speak out.
"I can't keep this to myself, because it's going to build up and eat me alive, you know," she said Monday. "So I'm going to go to the cops, do anything. Anything it takes to get him down."
Robinson said Meaderds first contacted her on the dating app Badoo, before later talking with her on the phone.
The two went to a movie together, where she said he asked continually if she was ok, then seemed put off that she didn't have money to split the bill.
After she asked him to drop her off near her home, she said Meaderds grabbed her from behind, and put a gun to her side, before an assault she described as humiliating and degrading.
"At the time, I was thinking, I'm going to die. I'm going to die because of nothing. He had the gun pointed at me. I was thinking about everything," she said.
She said when it was over Meaderds told her she had 10 seconds to run. She ran to a house with a porch light on where someone called police for help.
The assault, including the count down to run, is similar to what another woman described to police in August.
An arrest warrant says she knew Meaderds as a driver for rideshare service Lyft, and sent him a text for a ride.
The warrant says after picking her up in south Dallas, he took her to a vacant lot and assaulted her.
Robinson said Meaderds was still using the dating app after her assault, which may have helped police identify him as a suspect.
The warrant says he told investigators he was a driver for both Lyft and Uber. Neither company immediately responded Monday to a request for comment.
Meaderds' bond on three counts of aggravated sexual assault is set at $200,000.
It's unfortunately a terrifying situation that can happen to anyone. That's why for many women, learning self-defense is important.
"I do a lot of running and stuff at night by myself and my husband has always been a little worried about me," said Amy Naugle, who's been taking Jiu-Jitsu classes for the past nine months at Team Lutter in Fort Worth.
CBS 11 spoke to owner Travis Lutter about how you can best protect yourself. Lutter said there's no easy tip or trick when it comes to self-defense.
"I could lie to you and say 'oh, I'll teach you three things and you'll forever be able to defend yourself,' but that's not reality," Lutter said. He told CBS 11 that of course you can go for the sensitive spots like the eyes and the groin, but your best bet is to invest in real training.
Naugle told us that it's been a real confidence-booster for her.
"You can't protect yourself in every situation and scenario," she said. "But the more knowledge you have, the better off you're going to be."
Brooke Katz contributed to this report.