An Uber driver was arrested Tuesday for alleged burglary after he targeted the home of a woman he had just dropped off at the airport.
The Denver Post reported that Gerald Montgomery, 51, tried to enter the woman's home near the University of Denver through a back door on Thursday, but fled when someone inside noticed him.
"Any time you let someone know you’re gone, you’re more vulnerable to being a victim," Sonny Jackson, a spokesman for the Denver Police Department,
told NBC affiliate KUSA-TV. "In this particular situation, he knew she was gone because he took her to the airport himself and then came back to her home and tried to break in with robbery tools."
An arrest warrant was issued Friday, and police arrested Montgomery on Tuesday in Golden. He is likely to be charged with second-degree or "attempted" burglary.
"That's my worst fear — letting people know where I live," said the victim, 40-year-old Charity Huff, who uses the smartphone-based car service for business. "It has crossed my mind before, but this will make me think twice."
Huff said that after her roommate heard someone trying to break in, she took a screenshot of her driver's picture on the Uber app and sent it to her. Sure enough, it was him, the roommate said.
When contacted about the crime, an Uber spokesperson released a statement that said its staff had "reached out to the rider" to get the full story, refunded her ride, and also "immediately removed the driver's access to the Uber platform."
The company says it checks its contractors' criminal history and driving history. Montgomery had no criminal record in Colorado.