Man sentenced for Feb. attack on UVa student

Even as a young teenager in the 1980s, Christopher Allen Noakes was used to standing before a judge to face charges as serious as abduction and assault and battery.

Noakes, now 39, may have had that experience for the last time Tuesday morning. Rising from his seat in Charlottesville Circuit Court, Noakes addressed Circuit Judge Edward L. Hogshire.

“I’m sorry for what I did,” Noakes said. “I take full responsibility.”

Moments later, Hogshire sentenced Noakes to 40 years in prison, an active sentence outlined in a plea agreement the judge approved in the spring.

“In some ways, a 40-year active sentence is tantamount to a life sentence,” Katherine J. Peters, a Charlottesville assistant commonwealth’s attorney, said in court.

Noakes pleaded guilty May 27 to two counts of forcible sodomy. Authorities have said he tried to rob a second-year University of Virginia student earlier this year as she walked home on Grady Avenue. Although she handed over her purse, Noakes pulled her into some bushes and forced himself on her.

The Feb. 21 incident was typical of Noakes’ modus operandi — using robbery as a way to isolate and sexually abuse women.

“Mr. Noakes has a long history of being a sexual predator,” Peters said in court.

Within days of being released from a juvenile facility in 1986, a 17-year-old Noakes was accused of trying to rob a 35-year-old UVa hospital employee who was trying to get into her car. About two weeks later, police said he tried to drag a 19-year-old UVa student into some bushes on Jefferson Park Avenue. He was convicted of abduction and assault and battery and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

The victim of Noakes’ latest crime wrote in a victim impact statement paraphrased by Peters that she is still experiencing flashbacks of the attack and doesn’t want anything to do with Noakes.

In addition to the 40-year active sentence, Hogshire imposed an additional 90-year suspended sentence recommended by Peters. Noakes also will have to be on good behavior for the rest of his life, register as a sex offender and be supervised after his release.

Peters said she was pleased that Hogshire followed the prosecution’s recommendations.

“I think that the right thing happened for the victim and the community,” Peters said.

Having the chance to leave prison alive might give Noakes a chance for hope and redemption, Assistant Public Defender Nicholas Reppucci said in court.

“We are cautiously optimistic that the sentence will allow Mr. Noakes to be free as an elderly person … and be a member of civil society,” Reppucci said.