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Fake Uber driver facing real rape charges

A man posing as an Uber driver is now facing charges of sexual assault and rape of two different University of Georgia students.

According to the Athens-Clarke County police department, Emerson Redd, 56, pretended to be an Uber driver in downtown Athens.

Police say he stopped in front of a 21-year-old UGA student who was waiting for an Uber she ordered.

She told police, she got inside Redd's mini-van. Shortly after the ride began, she tells police she realized the driver did not have a GPS system or any other identification.

"She then asked the driver to pull over and it was at that time, the driver inappropriately touched her,” Athens-Clarke police spokesman Epifanio Rodriguez says. “She began to fight back, she began to yell and scream, and he did indeed pull over at that point.”

According to Rodriguez, a short time later Redd did the same thing to a 25-year-old woman who was also waiting for her Uber.

"But mid-way through the ride, she realized that the vehicle and the driver were not with Uber and that he was not an Uber employee,” Rodriguez says, adding, “She asked him to pull over.

“It was at that point that he then raped her, and after raping her is when he allowed her out of the vehicle.”

Rodriguez said Redd does not have a local address and authorities do not know what his connection is with Athens.

Police are asking if anyone else is a victim of Redd's they contact the Athens-Clarke County police department at 706-546-5900.

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