A man accused of abducting a University of Virginia student last year has pled guilty. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
The Charlottesville Commonwealth's Attorney's office announced on Tuesday that 41-year-old James Robert Allen of Suffolk pled guilty to the October 4, 2023 abduction and malicious wounding of a young woman. He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 27th and faces up to 30 years in prison.
Allen was accused of choking a college student while she was on a routine walk home, and abducting her in his work truck before crashing on Cabell Avenue in Charlottesville. The student, with duct tape on her wrists, was able to fight her way out and get help. Allen fled on foot and was apprehended the next day in Louisa County.
This is the second time Allen has been convicted of violently attacking a strange woman. As WMRA previously reported, Allen was charged with abduction and malicious wounding in 2008 after a woman was attacked while walking at the Warrenton Health & Aquatic Center. His first trial ended in a hung jury, and the retrial ended in a conviction on a misdemeanor assault and battery. His criminal record also includes numerous breaking and entering and theft charges.
