28-year-old Cleveland man Christian Burks has been sentenced to 41 years in prison after he posed as an Uber driver to kidnap and rape women.
As Cleveland.com reported, Burks posed as an Uber driver in order to abduct women outside of busy restaurants in the city’s Warehouse District. Burks was facing a maximum sentence of 103 years in prison, and pleaded guilty to five counts of rape, four counts of kidnapping, two counts of abduction, and one count of theft and domestic violence. He carried out these assaults from October 2017 through to May 2020. On Tuesday, he received his 41 year sentence.
“There is not one thing that the victims did where they bear responsibility for what happened to them,” said Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Joan Synenberg upon delivering her sentence. “I hope they can free themselves of any space you occupy in their heads.” She described Burks’ targeted attacks as “cunning, ruthless.”
Two women who said they believed Burks to be an Uber driver, only for him to rape them, delivered statements in court regarding what he put them through. “I know there are many more men, and many more people, who have bad intentions that I cannot save them from,” said one of the women, who admitted she didn’t want to be in the same room as him. “But I can stand up here and tell you today that the world is a less safe and more dangerous place for all of these young women when this man is allowed freedom.”
The other woman, who has also not been named to protect her identity, told Burks, “I hope you are haunted by my limp body lying in the backseat of your car… I hope you never live another day without the soul-crushing weight of me on your mind.” Burks apologized to the women, and told the judge that he took responsibility for his actions. He also issued an apology to his four children and the rest of his family. He said he was on high on drugs at the time of the attacks and did not remember the full details.
