This archive report was first published on 7 July 2020.
On June 10, 2020, Kennedy Wambui Masila, a 24-year-old Kenyan man living in Corona, California, was arrested and held in jail on allegations of rape.
According to his family, Kennedy was a college student working as an Uber driver to support himself and his family. On the night of the alleged incident, he received a pickup request from the Uber app, picked up a passenger, and dropped her off at her destination.
However, the passenger later reported to the police that Kennedy had raped her, leading to his arrest and detention in lieu of $20,000 bail.
Dr. Fastac Mutua, who is organizing a fundraiser to raise the bail amount and cover legal fees, stated, "Ken drove to the pickup location where he picked up a lady who seemed to be intoxicated. Just like he always did, he drove his passenger to her destination and dropped her off. Ken has assured us that during this trip nothing happened and that it was just one of the many trips he had completed that day. He was later arrested on the aforementioned accusation."
The family is raising funds through a GoFundMe campaign to cover the $20,000 bail and an additional $12,500 in legal fees. They claim that Kennedy is falsely accused and that his detention is putting his promising future in jeopardy.
