A 33-year-old Ypsilanti man faces two misdemeanor assault and battery charges for allegedly kissing a 23-year-old Ann Arbor woman after driving her home.
Mohamed Ahamok, who leased a minivan from Blue Cab, was arraigned in the 15th District Court by District Court Judge Elizabeth Pollard Hines Wednesday afternoon. The misdemeanor counts carry a maximum sentence of 93 days in jail and a $500 fine.
Ahamok left court with a $10,000 personal recognizance bond. He’ll return for a pretrial hearing at 9 a.m. Feb. 25.
After the hearing, Ahamok said the incident was a misunderstanding and he did not have any malicious intent toward the woman. He said he picked the woman up and gave her a ride home, making conversation during the trip. He said he gave the woman a friendly “good bye kiss.”
“There was no bad intention,” he said. “I did it in a friendly spirit.”
Ahamok denied forcing the woman to kiss him or trying to touch her in an inappropriate way.
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The incident took place early Sunday morning in the 1500 block of Pine Valley Road. Ahamok picked the woman up from the 1200 block of South University Avenue in Ann Arbor.
It was the third alleged sexual assault by a taxi cab driver on a female patron since Jan. 23, according to police. The other alleged incidents reportedly occurred on Jan. 23 and Feb. 3.
Ann Arbor police Detective Lt. Robert Pfannes released information on those two incidents Wednesday afternoon. The suspect descriptions in each incident are vague, but Pfannes said police are investigating whether the alleged sexual assaults are related.
Ahamok stood mute to the charges Wednesday afternoon and Hines appointed Model Cities Legal Services to represent him. Ahamok’s primary language is French and an interpreter will be appointed for his pretrial on Feb. 25.
Ahamok is not allowed to drive his cab while the case is pending, according to Blue Cab president John Etter.
Ann Arbor police Detective Michael Dortch recommended the personal recognizance bond for Ahamok.
“Mr. Ahamok has been very cooperative throughout the investigation,” Dortch told Hines. “I’m confident he will show up for court.”
According to his bond, Ahamok is not allowed to have contact with the victim in the case and he is not allowed to engage in any assaultive behavior. He said he has not tried to contact the woman since the incident and simply was trying to be friendly to a customer.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.