Denver Lyft Driver Sentenced to 290 Years for Sexual Assault, Kidnapping

A Denver Lyft driver who kidnapped and/or assaulted at least a dozen passengers will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

John Pastor-Mendoza, 43, was sentenced to 290 years to life in prison by Judge Karen Brody on Friday, March 7. Pastor-Mendoza was convicted of thirty charges in October, including twelve counts of kidnapping, two sexual assaults, seven attempted sexual assaults and one robbery.

From 2018 to 2022, Pastor-Mendoza targeted intoxicated women leaving downtown bars, pretending to be their rideshare driver to get them into his vehicle.

Some of the victims blacked out and woke up in an unknown home with Pastor-Mendoza, missing their underwear and other personal belongings. Others awoke to Pastor-Mendoza on top of them inside the vehicle, with multiple sustaining injuries during the attacks, according to the arrest affidavit.

“Pastor-Mendoza victimized twelve women in a calculated, cruel and contemptible series of crimes over four years,” Denver District Attorney John Walsh says in a statement. “Judge Brody’s severe sentence is entirely appropriate. We should all be grateful for the courage of Pastor-Mendoza’s victims, who came forward and testified at trial to ensure that Pastor-Mendoza will no longer have the opportunity to harm our community."

Pastor-Mendoza originally faced 41 felony charges: ten counts of kidnapping, twelve sexual assaults, eighteen attempted sexual assaults and one robbery. The arrest affidavit says he frequently stole the phones and wallets of his victims; when police searched his home, they found 22 cell phones.

He had no prior criminal history.

It is unclear whether Pastor-Mendoza was ever legitimately assigned to respond to the rideshare request of his victims, though some of the victims said the Lyft sign on his vehicle convinced them it was safe to enter. Lyft confirmed he drove for the company but said he was permanently removed following the news of his arrest.

This is one of several sexual assault cases involving Lyft in Colorado. In January, State Representative Jenny Willford filed a lawsuit against Lyft after she says she was sexually assaulted by her driver. In April, Lyft driver Shengfu Wu was sentenced to nine years in prison for raping a thirteen-year-old passenger in Aurora.

Nearly 7,000 people have reported being sexually assaulted as passengers or drivers of the Lyft rideshare platform, according to the company's safety reports.