Noakes pleads guilty to sex charges

Minutes after pleading guilty to two counts of forcible sodomy, Christopher Allen Noakes hid his face in his handcuffed hands. Holding his glasses in one hand, he massaged his forehead and rubbed his eyes as a Charlottesville prosecutor recounted his February sexual assault of a University of Virginia student.

Noakes, 39, faces 40 years in prison for the early-morning attack under a plea agreement accepted Tuesday by Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Edward L. Hogshire. Had Noakes been convicted of the charges without a deal, he would have faced up to life in prison. A Charlottesville judge will decide in August whether Noakes will be sentenced to additional suspended time.

“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.

This was not the first time Noakes was accused of attacking someone connected with UVa. In the 1980s, Noakes was convicted of abduction for grabbing a 19-year-old student on Jefferson Park Avenue and trying to drag her into some bushes. He also was convicted of assault and battery for beating a 35-year-old UVa Medical Center employee as she was getting into her car. That incident happened three days after he was released from a juvenile facility in Richmond, where he had been placed at age 15 after an attempted rape conviction.

The latest incident happened Feb. 21. That day, the victim, a second-year student at UVa, was talking to a close friend on the phone while walking home on Grady Avenue, Peters said in court. When the student turned to see who was walking behind her, Peters said, Noakes brought a knife to her throat and demanded her money.

The prosecutor said the victim handed over her purse and Noakes discarded her phone. As he dragged her into bushes in the 1600 block, Peters said the woman’s friend could still hear what was happening. He called 911 on a landline phone, describing what was unfolding in real time.

Noakes ordered the woman to remove her clothes and attempted to force himself on her. The noise from the incident attracted a neighbor’s attention, and the victim was eventually able to see someone on a porch looking at what was going on.

“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.

As part of the plea deal, the commonwealth’s attorney’s office agreed not to prosecute the other charges handed down last month by a grand jury — abduction with the intent to defile, intent to rape and robbery. The agreement doesn’t specify whether any portion of Noakes’ sentence will be suspended.

Reppucci said in court that his client had multiple reasons for waiving his preliminary hearing, allowing the case to go before a grand jury more quickly.

“One of the motivations was to start the healing process for the victim,” Reppucci said.

Noakes remains held without bond at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail. He is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 21, which was supposed to be the first day of his trial.

This article has been edited to correct the terms of the plea agreement.