Earlier this year, we told you about Uber driver Gerald Montgomery, who was arrested on suspicion of trying to burglarize a client's home — presumably because he'd taken her to the airport and knew she was headed out of town.
Now, according to an arrest affidavit on view below, an Uber driver was the victim of a crime — a robbery at knifepoint. But busting Kimberly Kovinchick and Wenston Williams for the crime proved to be trickier than it initially seemed.
Although charges against Kovinchick and Williams weren't announced until recent weeks, the incident for which they were arrested dates back to New Year's Eve.
At about 8:25 p.m. on December 31, 2014, the report maintains, officers were dispatched to the area of Bruce Randolph Avenue and Harrison Street.
There they found an Uber driver who said he'd been robbed by a pair of customers — a man and a woman.
He told investigators he'd been eating a sandwich at a McDonald's when he received a text from a woman named "Kim," whom he'd met a month earlier at another fast-food restaurant in the Denver area. She asked him if he could take her to the Tech Center area, and he agreed. But there were several stops along the way, including a Kentucky Fried Chicken/Taco Bell at 28th and Colorado, and an ATM at 26th and Ash, where they picked up a male friend of Kim's.
Shortly thereafter, the man, who wound up in the back seat, pressed a knife to the driver's throat and took all of his money. During the robbery, the driver tried grabbing the man's knife, cutting his hands in the process — something he didn't realize until after the couple had fled.
Given that the driver had exchanged texts with Kim, he had her phone number, which investigators quickly traced to Sprint. However, Sprint said the number was no longer part of its network, and an initial call to it went unanswered.
But if at first you don't succeed, try again. Another call was answered by a female who identified herself as Kim's sister. After the officer requested that she ask her sister to phone as soon as possible, Kim did so, leaving a voicemail message — and giving her last name.
Before long, a photo of Kovinchick was located in an archive called Webmug, and the driver had no problem picking it out of a lineup.
A warrant was promptly issued for Kovinchick's arrest, but it took considerably longer to pin down Williams, who's one of her Facebook friends. Now, however, he's been charged by the Denver District Attorney's Office with aggravated robbery, first-degree assault and three counts of weapon possession by a previous offender. Kovinchick, for her part, faces allegations of aggravated robbery and first-degree assault.
Look below to see their booking photos, followed by the arrest documents.
Kimberly Kovinchick and Wenston Williams Arrest Documents
