Thurston County detectives have arrested a cab driver on suspicion of raping a Lacey-area woman early Saturday morning after he drove her home from Jazzbones nightclub in Tacoma.
Mahamud Jamaala Husseno, 53, of Kent was arrested late Saturday night on suspicion of second-degree rape. He is employed by USA Cab of Tacoma, according to Thurston County Sheriff’s Lt. Greg Elwin.
Husseno was scheduled to appear before a judge Monday for a probable cause hearing, but a court-appointed interpreter could not be located, so his hearing will be held today. He remained in custody at the Thurston County Jail Monday.
Husseno is a refugee from Somalia with political asylum to live in the United States, a court official said Monday.
According to court papers and Elwin:
A friend of the 33-year-old woman called sheriff’s deputies early Saturday morning to report the rape. A detective arrived at Providence St. Peter Hospital, where the woman was undergoing a sexual assault exam. The woman said she had arranged for a cab ride home from Jazzbones because she was not feeling well.
She said that outside Jazzbones late Friday night, she and the cab driver settled on a $20 fare to drive her home. But once in the vehicle, the cab driver got lost, she said.
In a phone interview Monday, the woman said the man was “driving around for about an hour, an hour and a half, running up the meter.”
Also, according to court papers:
When the driver finally arrived at her residence, the driver told her the fare was $180. She replied that all she had was $47, and he took all of her money and let her out of the cab. As the driver helped her out of the cab, she said he pulled down her clothes, forced her back inside the cab and raped her.
Elwin said Monday that Sheriff’s Det. Chris Ivanovich went to Jazzbones early Saturday, and management at the nightclub shared surveillance camera footage from outside the club while the woman was hailing the cab. Ivanovich was able to recognize the woman getting inside a USA Cab, Elwin added. Further investigation led Ivanovich to obtain the driver’s phone number, which led him to Husseno, court papers state.
Thurston County Sheriff’s Deputy Mitch King drew a composite sketch of the woman’s attacker.
When Ivanovich interviewed Husseno, he said the woman’s fare was $108, but she gave him only $37, court papers state. “He was adamant that there was no physical contact between them,” court papers state.
Elwin said evidence from the woman’s sexual assault exam will be processed at the Washington State Patrol crime lab.
Jeremy Pawloski: 360-754-5465 jpawloski@theolympian.com
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