
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 14, 1993                   TAG: 9305140168
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: PULASKI                                LENGTH: Short

MAN, 70, GETS 8 MONTHS IN RAPE CASE

A 70-year-old Pulaski County man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison on two sex-related charges, but will have to serve only eight months.

Charles Hardy admitted to charges of both forcible sodomy and statutory rape of a girl, now 15, under a plea agreement accepted Wednesday in Pulaski County Circuit Court.

Hardy received a 10-year sentence on the charge of forcible sodomy, which was alleged to have occurred between September 1989 and June 1990.

The statutory rape charge, covering June and July 1991, also drew a 10-year sentence.

Doug Schroder, assistant commonwealth's attorney, said the county sheriff's office began investigating the allegations last June.

Circuit Judge A. Dow Owens accepted the plea agreement and suspended all but four months on each charge, leaving a total of eight months to serve.

by CNB