Who is Christian Burks? Uber rapist gets 41 years for five assaults across Cleveland
A Cleveland man has been sentenced to at least 41 years in prison on Tuesday, March 22, for raping five women across the city, including two instances where he posed as an Uber driver to abduct women outside restaurants in Warehouse District. According to Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Joan Synenberg, Christian Burks carried out "cunning, ruthless" attacks for three years and targeted women who were using ride-sharing services after a night out with friends.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C O'Malley called Burks a "serial sexual predator" who should be held accountable for his actions. Burks faced a maximum sentence of 103 years in prison after pleading guilty to raping five women in Cleveland between October 2017 and May 2020. The rape victims took turns addressing the assaulter in court.
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“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,” one of the victims said, according to Cleveland.com. “I am not weak. I am not defenseless. I am not an object for you to use at your disposal. I will not be haunted by the thought of you.”
Another victim, who thought she was getting into an Uber when Burks assaulted her, also spoke, but she couldn't look him in the eyes in court. “I know there are many more men, and many more people, who have bad intentions that I cannot save them from,” she said. “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.”
During her testimony, a third victim sobbed on the stand, saying the attack haunts her every day. “I never would have thought my life would have gotten here. I was tricked into believing someone was what they weren’t,” she said.
Crimes between October 2017 and May 2020
The Cleveland Division of Police's Sex Crimes Unit investigated and linked Burk’s crimes that occurred between December 2018 and December 2020. In December 2018, Burks went to a party at an East 4th Street apartment near Prospect Avenue. The victim, a 20-year-old woman, was lying inside a room at the party when Burks sexually assaulted her, despite her repeated attempts to stop him.
In May 2020, a 23-year-old victim and her 23-year-old male companion requested an Uber outside of a bar on West 6th Street and Johnson Court. Both of them got into Burk's car, thinking it was their ride. Burks drove the two to a gas station near Fulton Road on Lorain Avenue. Burks fled the gas station with the victim still in the car after the male friend exited the car to buy water. Burks later dropped the woman off at her house after stealing her credit cards and using them to make several purchases.
Another incident happened in the same month, Burks had an argument with a woman near West 38th Street and Vine Court when he picked her up and forced her into his car. The victim yelled for help and attempted to exit the car near the Eddy Road exit ramp on Interstate 90 as he fled. Burks then grabbed the woman by the neck, dragged her back to the car, and drove away.
In November 2020, a 21-year-old woman was separated from friends at a bar near West 6th Street and Lakeside Avenue. Burks sexually assaulted her several times in the car, despite her repeated attempts to stop him.
He assaulted another woman in December 2020. The 22-year-old woman and a friend asked for an Uber outside a bar on West 6th Street near Johnson Court. The victim's friend realized she wasn't with her when the Uber arrived. Burks assaulted the victim in another vehicle, drove her to an East Cleveland motel, and fled before police arrived.
Burks, a father of four children, also admitted to four counts of kidnapping, two counts of abduction, one count of theft, and one count of domestic violence. He was facing a maximum sentence of more than a century.