Ex-Pace Bus Driver Charged With Raping Disabled Woman
Updated 02/11/11 - 12:02 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A former Pace bus driver has been charged with raping a mentally disabled passenger he had befriended.
Police said Samuel Rivera, 43, befriended a passenger who suffered a disabling brain injury last fall and then raped her at her Northwest Side home.
Rivera, of 4309 N. Albany Av., was charged Thursday night with one count of criminal sexual assault. He was scheduled to appear in bond court Friday afternoon.
The attack allegedly occurred Nov. 27, 2010, when Rivera went to the victim's home and raped her, knowing she did not have the mental capacity to consent, according to a police report.
Rivera befriended the woman, a brain injury patient whom he drives by Pace bus to the Midwest Brain Injury Clubhouse in the 300 block of North Elizabeth Street, according to the report.
Pace spokesman Patrick Wilmot said Rivera was an employee of MV Transportation, which was contracted by Pace. He was pulled from service on Nov. 27 following a complaint and has not worked for Pace since, he said.
Police were called to the Elizabeth Street address on Dec. 1 and notified of the rape. Rivera was arrested at 9 a.m. Wednesday at his home.
Grand Central Area detectives are investigating.
(The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.)
