Less than a year in the workhouse is the time given to a onetime Metro Mobility driver who sexually assaulted a 23-year-old passenger he picked up at a group home in Maple Grove.
Segundo D. Aucapina, 45, of Minneapolis, was sentenced last week in Hennepin County District Court to 364 days in the workhouse, with credit for eight days served. A two-year prison term was stayed for five years.
Aucapina, who pleaded guilty in June to a reduced charge of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the assault in November 2015, must attend a sex-offender treatment program and register as a predatory offender. He also cannot coach or hold any position of authority or have employment driving with vulnerable adults.
Metro Mobility, operated by the Metropolitan Council, last year provided nearly 2 million door-to-door rides in the Twin Cities area to people with disabilities and elderly people. The council contracts out the service in the western portion of the metro area to privately operated Transit Team Inc. of Minneapolis.
Aucapina started driving for Transit Team seven months before the assault, after his pre-hire criminal background check came back clean, a company executive said. The driver was fired around the time of the allegation.
Prosecutors said the woman, who has the delayed age development of a 12- to 14-year-old, reported that Aucapina had sexually assaulted her twice a week apart.
On the morning of the second assault, according to authorities, an automated vehicle locator showed the bus went off-course twice with just Aucapina and the woman on board. He then drove and parked in a secluded location that prosecutors declined to disclose. Aucapina sat next to the woman and opened an umbrella in front of surveillance cameras.
Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482
