Police arrest UCA student accused of sexually assaulting ride service driver

Matthew Dendy
Matthew Dendy

A University of Central Arkansas student is accused of sexually assaulting a driver for a ride-hailing service.

The driver, a 27-year-old woman, said she picked up the client, later identified as Matthew Dendy, 36, from Alumni Circle on UCA's campus around 2 a.m., according to a report from the Conway Police Department.

When they arrived at Germantown Apartments at 955 S. German Lane, Dendy offered her money in exchange for allowing him to perform a sexual act, the report said.

The woman declined and Dendy later reached over from the passenger seat and grabbed her crotch, the report said, noting she pushed his arm away, yelled at him to get out and then sped off.

Dendy was booked into the Faulkner County jail shortly before 5 p.m. Wednesday, jail records show. He was being held without bail on a charge of second-degree sexual abuse as of Monday morning.

Dendy's arrest marks at least the fourth sexual crime reported at or near the UCA campus since the beginning of the academic year.

Authorities arrested Michael Andrew Zeher, 18, on a rape charge in September after an 18-year-old classmate accused him of assaulting her after he walked her back to her dorm after a party at the Sigma Tau Gamma fraternity house. Zeher has pleaded not guilty.

Also in September, another student told officers she was sexually assaulted by a classmate at a residence hall for upperclassmen honors students.

In November, a UCA student told officers a male student sexually assaulted her at the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house at 334 Donaghey Ave.

UCA police spokesman Michael Hopper said Friday he had not been notified of any arrests those cases.

The number of reports made this semester matches that of the same time frame in 2016, Hopper said.

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