A 36-year-old Indianapolis ride-share driver has been charged with rape after a woman told investigators he locked her inside his car, drove her to a church parking lot and sexually assaulted her despite her repeatedly telling him to stop. The Marion County Prosecutor's Office filed charges against Roberto Louis on October 27, more than five months after the woman first reported the alleged assault to police.
Louis was charged with two counts of rape, each a Level 3 felony, and one count of criminal confinement, a Level 6 felony, according to a report based on court documents. The alleged assault happened May 5 on Indianapolis' east side, the same report states. As of publication, Louis had not been arrested on the charges but had an active warrant, per that account.
A Liquor Store Run Turns Into an Alleged Nightmare
According to court documents cited by WIBC, the woman called a ride-share service to take her to an east-side liquor store, where she purchased items before returning home in the same vehicle. Once they arrived at her home, Louis allegedly asked her for alcohol, and the two reportedly each took a shot. Court documents state that Louis told the woman how beautiful she was and that he wanted to take her on a date.
The situation allegedly shifted when Louis asked the woman if she wanted to get tacos. Per the same account, he became very pushy and aggressive, and she agreed to go with him because she believed she could get out of the vehicle and find help elsewhere. Instead, when she tried to leave at her apartment complex, she told investigators that Louis locked the doors and drove away.
Church Parking Lot Becomes the Scene of the Alleged Assault
The woman said she directed Louis to a church parking lot near Southeastern and Drexel avenues, hoping police might be present there, according to the report. Instead, the probable-cause affidavit states that Louis ordered her into the back seat. Court documents allege he kissed her, removed her clothing and performed sexual acts despite her repeatedly telling him “no” and “stop,” the Yahoo News report states.
When the woman said, “it will be okay,” was Louis's reported response, according to the court documents described in the WIBC account. She told investigators she did not fight back because she was afraid and felt physically overpowered, and that she complied out of fear of what he might do if she resisted. Louis then allegedly returned her to her home.
Identifying the Driver and Searching His Vehicle
Once home, the woman called police, using information from the ride-share company to identify the driver as Louis, the outlet reported. Officers located Louis's vehicle at a home and found Louis inside that home. Louis reportedly told officers that the woman had persuaded him to drink with her.
Louis denied that anything sexual occurred between them, other than what he described as a quick kiss on the lips, and denied having sex with the woman, per the same WIBC account. Detectives who searched his vehicle found unopened condoms and an opened condom wrapper, but no used condoms, according to the Yahoo News report.
Conflicting Accounts of the DNA Evidence
The reporting on forensic evidence in the case varies. WIBC's account of the court documents states that DNA found from the woman was likely to have come from Louis. A separate report states that testing excluded him as a contributor to vaginal swabs but linked him to DNA recovered from the woman's underwear. The dossier of reporting reviewed for this story does not reconcile those two descriptions, and neither should be treated as the full picture of the forensic findings without the underlying report.
An earlier account, published October 29 and identifying 13News, preceded the Fox 59 report posted October 30. Members of the public can search Indiana court records through the Indiana Supreme Court's Public Access portal, and Indiana law identifies rape as a Level 3 felony and criminal confinement as a Level 6 felony under state statute.
