An Algerian national allegedly assaulted two women in the back of his New York taxi in separate incidents but is still snagging fares after getting a sweetheart deal from Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the New York Post reported Saturday.
Records show that Mohammed Bellebia, 34, was allowed to plead guilty to lesser charges in at least one of the incidents, according to the newspaper.
According to the tabloid’s detailed reporting, the cabbie’s first alleged victim was 23-year-old Maile Bartow who entered Bellebia’s yellow cab minivan around 2 a.m. in November of last year after a night on the town with friends.
What should have been an uneventful ten-minute ride to her place on the Lower East turned into a nightmare trip through the darkened streets of the Big Apple.
Bellebia, who reportedly spoke little English, allegedly began touching her leg, according to the Post’s account.
The cabbie not only ignored her pleas to stop, he then groped her genitals, according a lawsuit filed by the woman against the driver and the taxi company — ironically named “Tranquil Taxi.”
During the alleged assault, Bartow snapped a photo of the cabbie’s actions, but he snatched it from her hand and deleted her photos, according to her account. She then began recording her requests for him to stop in a voicemail.
“I started to beg him, ‘Let me out!’” Bartow recalled. “I didn’t want to make him any more mad than he was. I was so scared he was gonna kidnap or kill me.”
The cabbie finally pulled over, she said. She had to call for a ride service to get to her home. The California native had been working in New York as a social media marketing specialist.
She filed a complaint with New York police the next morning.
A month later in December, Bellebia allegedly picked up another 2 a.m. fare and touched that woman’s leg throughout the ride and tried to remove the 33-year-old victim’s underwear, a law enforcement source told the Post.
There was reportedly no partition or camera system in his vehicle.
The cabbie was arrested on Dec. 19, 2024 and charged in both cases, according to the Post. Bellebia faced misdemeanor charges of forcible touching and sexual abuse in Bartow’s case. Conviction could have resulted in a sentence ranging from probation to a year in jail.
Instead, Bellebia pled guilty in March to disorderly conduct and received a “conditional discharge,” the Post reported, avoiding jail time as long as he stayed out of legal trouble.
The second charge is under seal, the Post reported, with no further information available.
Bartow, who has since moved from the city, told the Post she had no idea there had been a second assault allegation and had been largely kept in the dark by the district attorney’s office.
“Oh my God,” she told the Post when she learned of the second woman.
Only when she pestered the DA’s office with phone calls did she learn of the cabbie’s plea deal. Bellebia, meanwhile, had his license suspended after the incident, but it was reportedly reinstated in March.
“He’s back on the road driving the exact same taxi cab,” Bartow told the Post. “I wasn’t looped in at all. They didn’t ask me what I was OK with.”
The newspaper contacted the cabbie, who said he was unaware of the lawsuit filed against him and the taxi company, which the paper reported couldn’t be reached for comment.
During the attempted interview, the Arabic-speaking driver called a friend to translate, who declined further comment. On a second attempt for comment, the cabbie hung up when a reporter asked him if he was in the U.S. illegally.
The charges in Bartow’s case were not bail-eligible, a Manhattan DA spokeswoman told the Post, also saying the driver had no prior convictions.
“Survivors deserve clear communication through the course of a prosecution, and we have reached out to the survivor to apologize for falling short of that in this case,” the spokeswoman added.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.
