Cabbie Charged with Molesting Passengers

His flag was up...

​Usually when you hear about crime in a cab, it's because the cabbie has been held up or brutalized by some bat-shit passenger. But in ass-backwards Berkeley, apparently, its a cabbie allegedly doing the attacking these days.

Cab Driver Ali Al Obadi, 29, allegedly invited female fares to sit up front with him, then restrained and molested them, according to today's Chron. One of the incidents occurred in January 2008, and a second occurred this month, according to Berkeley police. Obadi is said to have held the women down and groped their breasts. He also stuck a finger down one woman's pants and forced her to touch his crotch, police said.

He has been charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment and two counts of sexual battery in Alameda County.

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