A man allegedly posed as an Uber driver and raped a woman leaving a Boston bar. Now, he’s charged in 7 other ‘chillingly similar crimes.’
"The attacks on these women are the acts of a predator."
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Back in January, a Rhode Island man was charged after allegedly posing as an Uber driver and kidnapping and raping a woman leaving a Boston bar the month before.
Now, authorities say Alvin Campbell, 39, of Cumberland, is facing new charges related to seven other “chillingly similar crimes” between 2017 and 2019.
Campbell is being held on $250,000 bail from his January arraignment on the alleged incident that happened on Dec. 7, 2019. The 26-year-old victim in that incident had been attending a party, and, after she called for an Uber, officials allege Campbell pulled up in his vehicle and she got in outside of The Harp bar near North Station after he used her name. Her actual Uber driver, meanwhile, had canceled.
Campbell allegedly drove the victim to his home in Rhode Island and raped her. The woman was intoxicated at the time of the incident and doesn’t remember what happened, according to authorities.
Now, Suffolk District Attorney Rachael Rollins’s office says that between 2017 and 2019, Campbell allegedly kidnapped and raped seven other women — sometimes also recording the women while they were nude and unconscious. While each of the incidents was unique, the women were reportedly at bars or near them and intoxicated, preventing them from consenting or resisting, authorities said. They all believed they were getting into a ride-share vehicle, and, when authorities seized Campbell’s vehicle, it allegedly had multiple Uber stickers on it, though he hadn’t worked for the service since 2016.
The majority of the rapes occurred within Campbell’s vehicle, according to Rollins’s office.
“The attacks on these women are the acts of a predator,” Rollins said in a release. “Women are entitled to go out and enjoy themselves without the fear of being preyed upon, kidnapped or raped. With one exception, these women did not know each other. They shared in common only that each were out enjoying nightlife in Boston when Campbell found and violated them. Now, they are linked by those horrific assaults. But these eight women are also linked due to the incredible bravery and courage they each displayed coming forward to hold their rapist accountable.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there isn’t a grand jury to hear the evidence of the additional alleged incidents. The Boston Police Sexual Assault Unit was able to lodge arrest warrants until a court date can be set, the release says.
Campbell is the brother of Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell, according to past reports. In January, Andrea Campbell told the Washington Post in a statement that she was “heartbroken, saddened and devastated.”
“I will continue to pray for the victim who had the courage to come forward and I want her to get all of the supports, services and protections she is entitled to,” she said. “I will also pray for my brother. I’m trusting that the judicial process will ensure that justice is served.”
Citing multiple other cases of women being kidnapped and raped after leaving bars in Boston, sometimes by a ride-share driver, as well as the murder of Jassy Correia, Rollins said “sexual violence is a form of hate crime and gender should be a protected category.”
“Violence against women is not a woman’s issue, it is a civil rights issue,” she said. “Men, we are calling on you to step up and intervene when you see questionable and criminal behavior. Speak to your sons. Real men don’t rape.”
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