Uber Driver Wanted For Kidnapping Arrested By Sacramento Sheriff Detectives

UPDATED 3:37 p.m.

An Uber driver who allegedly refused to let three women out of his car and later threatened them with death is now in Sacramento County jail.

The incident occurred in June, when three women returning home from a book-club meeting hailed an Uber ride that quickly turned dangerous, according to a victim’s interview with The Sacramento Bee.

The driver, 36-year-old Mark Filanov of Rancho Cordova, began to make erratic, high-speed lane changes. When the women complained, he refused to let the women out of the car.

“We’re all going to die,” Filanov allegedly told the women, who fled the Uber when it stopped at a red light in South Sacramento. The incident lasted nearly 30 minutes.

Detectives investigating the case reviewed one of the women’s electronic receipts from the ride. A Sacramento Superior Court judge granted an arrest warrant for Filanov, who was booked in county jail on August 17.

He is charged with three counts each of felony kidnapping and death threats and is being held on $375,000 bail.

Sgt. Shaun Hampton, a Sacramento Sheriff's Office spokesman, says that Uber is conducting its own investigation into the alleged kidnapping.

Hampton was not aware if Uber or any other ride-hailing agency works with local law enforcement to screen potential drivers.

A spokesperson with Uber called the driver’s alleged actions “disturbing behavior” that “will not be tolerated.”

Uber says it removed Filanov’s access to the app shortly after it learned of the incident, and that he had only been a driver for a few months and had no previous feedback that hinted at this type of behavior.

The spokesperson noted that Uber has an emergency button built into the app.