Evansville Uber driver facing rape charge

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - An arrest has been been in an Evansville rape investigation.

Marshall Savage Banks is facing a level 3 felony rape charge.

Police say the victim was at a bar with friends in Dec. 2018, and sent home in an Uber because she was very intoxicated.

“You feel like you’re doing the right thing by getting that person home, but if you’re sending them home on their own, there’s just a variety of things that can go wrong," EPD Sgt. Jason Cullum explained. "So, we always encourage, if you go out, in the military, it’s called a wing man, that you have somebody with you, that way you’re never alone. You don’t find yourself in an unsafe situation.”

According the affidavit, the friends told police they later went to the victims apartment, and she wasn’t there.

They say they later found her with Banks, the Uber driver who none of them knew, near the apartment. The friends say Banks told them his name was Jeremy, gave them some of the victim’s personal property, and left.

The friends told police the victim began crying and told them Banks had covered her mouth and raped her.

The friends took her to the hospital, where a rape kit was completed.

Authorities say they tracked down Banks by the Uber app. They say he began throwing up when he answered the door.

“Just because we can use the app on a phone to backtrack and locate a suspect, your best bet is always to prevent yourself from becoming a victim to begin with,” Sgt. Cullum added.

Police say he told them the victim was very drunk and climbed into the front seat. He says she unzipped his pants, but he never touched her.

Authorities say the evidence found in the rape kit provides very strong support of the proposition that Marshall Banks is the contributor to the DNA profile.

Banks was arrested Friday evening and was being held on a $5,000 cash bond.

He made his first court appearance Wednesday morning and the judge raised his bond to $10,000. His next court date is set for July 24 at 10 a.m.

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