New York, June 28 (IANS): A 46-year-old Uber driver was charged with raping a female passenger while she was unconscious at a motel in southern California, officials said.

Alaric Spence faces up to 15 years to life in prison if convicted, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, Xinhua news agency reported.

Spence, who was arrested last week and charged on Tuesday, has five prior drug-related felony convictions and had worked for Uber for the past six months, according to Los Angeles police.

Investigators released images of Spence and his vehicle, a 2015 silver four-door Nissan Sentra. Police said Spence picked up a 24-year-old woman in downtown Los Angeles on Friday and was supposed to drop her off in Hollywood, the police said.

Spence, instead, drove her to a North Hollywood motel, where he allegedly raped her and left her there. The woman was intoxicated at the time of the attack, the prosecutor said.

The woman may have passed out in the back of his car while en route to Hollywood. Spence is suspected of driving the woman to the motel and then carrying her from his car into the room, according to City News Service.

The woman woke up alone, not knowing where she was or how she got there, and called police, the Los Angeles Police Department's official said.