Cabdriver gets probation for molesting female passenger

A Palatine cabdriver who prosecutors say molested a female passenger he picked up outside a suburban nightclub pleaded guilty to criminal sexual abuse and was sentenced to probation, court records show.

Mohammed N. Choudry, 49, of the 1000 block of Sterling Avenue, was sentenced Thursday to 30 months probation and ordered to pay $1,129 in fines, according to court records.

The judge also assigned Choudry to 15 days in the Cook County Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program, where offenders perform manual labor for government and not-for-profit agencies in lieu of incarceration.

Police say he picked the woman up outside Durty Nellie’s in Palatine early on Feb. 4, 2012. After Choudry told her he did not accept credit cards, he drove the woman to a bank where she withdrew $40 from an ATM for his fare, prosecutors said during his bond hearing last year.

The woman fell asleep in the cab and awoke to find Choudry touching her. She left the cab and contacted police.