A Lyft driver has been charged with the kidnapping and rape of a Los Angeles woman after picking her up from a bar last October.

The Los Angeles County district attorney announced the charges Friday for 38-year-old Octavio Alvarez Gomez.

At roughly 10 p.m. on Oct. 2, 2018, Gomez was summoned to drive a woman to Van Nuys, prosecutors said. But instead of dropping the victim off at her requested location, Gomez continued to drive to a secluded location where he raped his passenger, prosecutors said.

The charges include one count each of kidnapping to commit rape and rape of an unconscious person.


Gomez faces a possible maximum sentence of life in state prison. His bail has been set at $1.1 million.

In August, a 25-year-old San Bruno woman told investigators that a Lyft driver raped her in his vehicle after she passed out from intoxication in his backseat.