A Charlottesville man was sentenced Monday on charges related to the rape of a University student in 1998 and the sodomy of another woman with a metal tire iron in Charlottesville's Tonsler Park in 2001.
Michael Bryan Plum, 26, was sentenced to 65 years in prison after a Charlottesville Circuit Court jury found him guilty of the two charges.
Police arrested Plum after the second incident, but DNA evidence also linked him to the 1998 Beta Bridge rape. Police had noticed a similarity between the crimes when questioning Plum about the Tonsler Park assault.
In both cases, Plum is said to have surprised the women from behind, convinced them he had a gun and then demanded they lie face down before assaulting them.
Both victims attended the sentencing hearing. However, only the 21-year-old victim in the Tonsler Park incident chose to make a public statement.
"He deserves to die there. He has no right to ever come out. Ever. I hope they kill him there," she said in the Daily Progress.
Prosecutor Robert M. Huber said the defendant had a long history of misdemeanor assault convictions, and that with the DNA evidence obtained from the Tonsler Park attack, conviction was virtually guaranteed.
"My job was easy," Huber said. "The difficult job was the two victims'. We couldn't have prosecuted here without them. They deserve the credit."
The first attack, which became known as the "Beta Bridge rape," occurred around 8:30 p.m. Oct. 15, 1998. While walking near Rugby Road, a man grabbed the victim from behind telling her he had a gun, dragged her underneath the bridge and then raped her. The assailant then ordered the victim to put her clothes back on and smacked her in the face.
The second attack occurred February 7, 2001 at 3:30 p.m. Plum approached his victim claiming to be a police officer and then told her he had a gun. He then reportedly took his victim to a wooded area of the park, sodomized her and hit her repeatedly with his fist and a socket wrench.
Tonsler Park is located near the corner of Elliott and Fifth streets extended.
Police arrested Plum about a half-hour after the incident at Tonsler Park occurred. Charlottesville Police Officer Ernie Johnston noticed that Plum fit the victim's description of a man wearing faded blue jeans, a blue long-sleeved shirt and a small ponytail. Johnston also noticed scratches on Plum's face as well as blood on his hands.
Charlottesville Police Sgt. Cheryl Smith said that although such attacks occur infrequently, they are "crimes of opportunity" that students should take steps to avoid.
"You should always walk with someone else on lighted paths and avoid crossing railroad tracks," Smith said.
(Cavalier Daily News Editor Michael Loatman contributed to this article.)
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