Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 4, 1993 TAG: 9302040222
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
BEDFORD RAPE CHARGES CERTIFIED
She thought she was getting a ride home to her husband. She ended up in a car at the Hardy Ford public boat ramp being repeatedly raped and sodomized by two men at 2:30 in the morning.A 24-year-old Roanoke woman described her ordeal Wednesday at a preliminary hearing in Bedford County General District Court for the two men accused of the crime. Each is charged with one count of rape and forcible sodomy.
The accuser testified that on the night of Nov. 28, her husband left their home on Tazewell Avenue in Southeast Roanoke to buy some fuel for a kerosene heater. He was supposed to be gone about 30 minutes. When he had not returned in 90 minutes, she went looking for him.
It was a Saturday night. She said she thought her husband might have gone out drinking, so she looked for him at two restaurants downtown. She didn't find her husband, but met up with friends at both places and drank a few beers.
Next, she went to a restaurant on Jamison Avenue Southeast, where she met up with another friend for a few more beers. In all, she said she had about 10 beers. "I had a buzz going, but I wasn't really intoxicated where I was falling over or anything," she said.
She needed a ride home, and said a man she didn't know who called himself George offered to take her. He and another man, who identified himself as Clay, said they knew her husband and worked with him.
She accepted the ride.
In court Wednesday, the woman identified Dale Adrine Flinn, 22, as "George" and "Claiburn Roscoe Dooley, 36, as "Clay." Both are from Roanoke.
In the car, she sat in the passenger seat next to Flinn. Dooley sat in the back seat. Quickly, she realized that Flinn wasn't driving toward her home on Tazewell, she said.
She protested as the car headed into Vinton and eventually down Hardy Road to Smith Mountain Lake. Along the way, she testified, one of the men started fondling her.
She told them she wanted out of the car, but she said Flinn hit her on the head. "He back-handed me and told me to shut up."
They stopped at the Hardy Ford public boat ramp, which was dark and deserted. She said Flinn started stripping her clothes off, as Dooley held her arms. "I was telling them to stop," she said.
Then, she said, they forced her to stretch out across the car's front bucket seats. They threatened to beat her and throw her in the lake.
She said one man forced her to perform oral sex while the other raped and sodomized her. Then they switched, and took turns for some time.
"It happened at least three or four or five times," she testified.
She also was taken out of the car and raped once on the ground, she said.
In addition, Flinn pulled a knife on her. "It sounded like he threatened to kill me, too," she said.
Her nose was broken, and one of her fingers was smashed in a car door, she said.
Then Bedford County Deputy Ronnie Wright rolled up.
Wright testified Wednesday that he drove into the boat dock parking lot on routine patrol about 2:25 a.m. on Nov. 29 and spotted a car near the lake's shore. He said the windows on the car were steamed up and he couldn't see inside.
Wright said he stopped about 15 feet away and got out of his patrol car. At that time, he said, Flinn got out of the other car. He wasn't wearing a shirt, there was blood on his chest and his pants were around his knees, Wright said.
The deputy testified that a woman followed Flinn out of the car. Her face was covered with blood and she was naked except for her socks, he said. She ran toward him.
"I shouted out, `What the hell is going on?' " Wright said.
He said she replied, "They raped me."
Wright drew his gun and ordered Flinn to put his hands on the car. But, he said, Flinn ignored him. He said Flinn told him to go ahead and shoot him and he started walking around the car to the driver's door.
Wright said he then fired a warning shot above Flinn's head and Flinn stopped. Then, he said, Dooley popped out of the car and ran off into the woods. At the same time, Flinn also took off running. Wright was unable to stop either man.
A search ensued, and Dooley was arrested about an hour later. Flinn remained at large for two weeks until he was stopped by a state trooper near Mount Vernon, Ky., on suspicion of driving a stolen truck.
Flinn waived extradition and was returned to Bedford County a few days later.
Both Flinn and Dooley are being held in the Bedford County Jail without bond.
After hearing Wednesday's testimony, General District Judge James Farmer ruled that there was probable cause to charge Flinn and Dooley; and he certified the rape and sodomy charges to the Bedford County grand jury, which meets today.
If convicted, Flinn and Dooley could be sentenced to five years to life in prison on each of the charges.