University of Virginia rapist pleads guilty - faces 40 years

Christopher Allen Noakes, 39, a UVa rapist and assaulter of women will spend 40 years in prison due to a plea agreement to 2 counts of forcible sodomy for an attempted rape which occured February 21. Judge Edward L. Hogshire, of the Charlottesville Circuit Court, accepted the plea agreement, and keeps Noakes from spending possibly the rest of his life in prison. Both prosecutors and Noakes’ public defender praised the agreement.

“A 40 year sentence is a very decent amount of time,” Assistant Commonwealth’s attorney Katherine J. Peters said in court.

“It sends a strong message to the community that this will not be tolerated,” added Nicholas Reppucci, assistant public defender.

Noakes was previously convicted of kidnapping a 19 year old student back in the 1980s, and beating a 35 year old UVa employee as she was getting into her car. This happened 3 days after release from a juvenile facility in Richmond where he had been place for attempted rape.

The last incident occurred February 21, when a sophomore UVa student was talking to a friend on a cell phone. Noakes walked up behind her, held a knife to her throat, and demanded money. The woman’s friend, on the other end of the phone, called 911 to describe what was happening. Noakes ordered to woman to strip and attempted to rape her, but the attack caught a neighbor’s attention, and the victim was able to get that neighbor to call 911.

“She felt the person was bound to call 911 and assist her,” Peters said.

Police arrived to find Noakes on top of the woman, but he jumped up and ran until officers arrested him in the 500 block of 14th Street Northwest. The victim was taken to the UVa Medical Center for non-life-threatening injuries.

The plea deal calls for a 40 year prison sentence and dropping charges of abduction with the intent to defile, intent to rape, and robbery. The judge has the discretion to order an additional suspended term consecutive to the prison sentence when formal sentencing occurs on August 21. Reppucci said that there were multiple reasons why Noakes decided to plead guilty, including “start[ing] the healing process for the victim.” He is curreltly being held at the Albermarle-Charlottsville regional jail.