Former Uber driver sentenced to five years in prison for attack on passenger
An Elgin man and former Uber driver has been sentenced to five years in prison for sexually abusing and trying to sexually assault a female passenger in 2017.
Ahmed R. Tawfeeq, 29, was found guilty of attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual abuse, aggravated battery, unlawful restraint and promotion of prostitution, by McHenry County Judge Robert Wilbrandt after a two-day trial in November.
Wilbrandt handed down the five-year sentence on Friday. Tawfeeq had faced a maximum term of 15 years in prison.
Authorities said Tawfeeq was working as an Uber driver on June 16, 2017, when he picked up a woman in Prairie Grove. Instead of driving her to her job as requested, Tawfeeq pulled over in a parking lot near the woman's residence and attacked her, McHenry County prosecutors alleged.
Tawfeeq is scheduled to go on trial again this week on a charge of solicitation of harassment of a witness, authorities said. If he's convicted, he faces an additional term of up to seven years in prison.
He remains in custody without bond at the McHenry County jail.