On March 26, the Denver Police Department received a call from South Lafayette Street, near campus, reporting that a man had just attempted to break into the caller’s home, according to the affidavit and arrest warrant of 51-year-old Gerald Montgomery. Montgomery, a now ex-Uber driver, had just taken one of the home’s residents, Natalie Coury, to the airport when he allegedly returned to attempt to burglarize the home. Coury’s roommate, Amy Kissinger discovered the suspect as he attempted to break in through the back door, which caused him to flee, according to the police report.
Kissinger reported to police that she heard a noise that drew her to the back door where she saw an unfamiliar man standing with the screen door open. She asked him what he wanted and he replied that he was there to see her roommate. Kissinger called Coury who said that she hadn’t been expecting anyone, and when Kissinger turned back to the door the man had fled.
According to the police report, Coury told Kissinger that the description of the man matched the Uber driver who had driven her to the airport that morning. Kissinger called the police and upon inspecting the area, police found that the suspect had left a tensioner (a device used in lock picking) in the back door’s dead-bolt lock. Coury sent Kissinger a screen-shot of her Uber driver, and Kissinger identified the Uber driver as the man who she had seen at the back door.
According to the police report, investigators contacted Uber with the information that one of their drivers had allegedly attempted to burglarize the home of one of his clients. Uber was able to provide Montgomery’s full name, address, license plate number, vehicle information, phone number and driver’s license photo, leading to Montgomery’s arrest.
“Gerald Montgomery has been formally charged with attempted second-degree burglary, possession of burglary tools, and first-degree criminal trespass,” said Lynn Kimbrough, Communications Director for the Denver District Attorney’s Office. “He has been released from custody on a $10,000 bond, and is scheduled to appear in Denver County Court on April 14 to be formally advised of the charges.”
The incident happened off campus and the victims were not students at DU.
Still, this attempted break in, which happened quite close to campus, could easily have been on a student’s house.
“I occasionally use Uber, and I think the safest thing to do would be to use Uber with a friend and maybe have the driver pick you up a ways away from your house,” said Julia Puckett, a first year psychology major from Salt Lake City, Utah.
According to Uber’s blog site, Uber was founded after Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick had the idea for a stylish and convenient taxi app to address the problem of finding a taxi in San Francisco. The pair launched the app in San Francisco in 2009 and the app’s ridership has been growing ever since.
John Green, a local limo driver who works in a partnership with Uber, says that he went through a rigorous background check through the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, the FBI and Homeland security, to start work in his limo service which partners with Uber.
“UberX drivers go through a background check through Uber and I don’t know what that consists of, but I know they don’t go through as strict of a background check as limo drivers go through,” said Green.
In light of the attempted break in, Green is nonetheless supportive of Uber.
“I think Uber is great,” said Green. “It’s really convenient not only for the customer, but also for the driver.”
