CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLERIGHTNOW) – The Suffolk man who pleaded guilty to attempting to abduct a University of Virginia student has been sentenced to 25 years on prison on Tuesday, August 27, 2024.

James Robert Allen pleaded guilty to malicious wounding and attempted abduction by force in April.

At approximately 9:39 p.m. October 4, 2023, Charlottesville officers were dispatched to the corner of Rugby Road and Burnley Avenue. They arrived to find a female student with blood on her face, duct tape on her wrists and significant abrasions on her face, stomach and arm.

That after a professor’s family heard the victim’s screams from inside their home and gave chase. Physicians found that she had suffered internal injuries, as well: broken blood vessels in her eyes, under-skin bleeding around her eyes and a fractured hyoid bone.

As previously reported in The Daily Progress, the victim rolled out of a pickup truck on Cabell Avenue after a UVa professor’s family, hearing the victim’s screams from their house, gave chase. New details Platania shared in court were the victim’s internal injuries.

“While this active sentence is significant, so is the underlying conduct,” said Charlottesville Commonwealth’s Attorney Joe Platania. “Thankfully ES fought her free and helped ensure that Mr. Allen will not hurt anyone else for a very long time.”

Five years of a 30-year sentence was suspended leaving an active sentence of 25 years. The five years was suspended on the conditions of five years of intensive supervised probation and 30 years of good behavior.