Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 16, 1994 TAG: 9408160074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Cory D. Hargraves, 24, is the first person in Roanoke to be convicted of carjacking since a law was enacted last year that makes stealing a car by force punishable by up to life in prison.
Prosecutors say Hargraves approached a woman in the Valley View Mall parking lot and robbed her of her purse, her car - and her sense of security.
"This is a shopper's nightmare," Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Greg Phillips said.
At a hearing in Roanoke Circuit Court, Phillips provided the following summary of what happened:
At about 7:15 p.m. March 14, Janice White of Vinton was leaving the mall when she noticed Hargraves leaning against a car that was parked next to her 1988 Thunderbird.
Hargraves grabbed White and told her to get in her car. When she refused, he took her purse and car keys and drove away in the Thunderbird. White, who was not injured, ran back into the mall.
By the time police found White's car the next day on Clifton Street Northwest, Hargraves was gone. But he had left behind a fingerprint on the car's rearview mirror and was arrested several days later.
Following Phillips' summary of the evidence, Judge Roy Willett found Hargraves guilty of carjacking, robbery and attempted abduction. He faces up to two life terms plus five years in prison, and will be sentenced later.
Assistant Public Defender William Fitzpatrick noted that Hargraves did not use a weapon during the incident. "This was not like a Northern Virginia carjacking," Fitzpatrick said, refering to armed carjacking in urban areas that led the General Assembly to pass the law.
In a letter to White that was introduced as evidence, Hargraves apologized for his actions and blamed them on his addiction to crack.
"I was irrational in my state of mind, trying to obtain more drugs to satisfy the craving for more crack cocaine," Hargraves wrote. "I want you to know that I had no intentions of verbally or physically harming you. I myself was just as scared as you were for doing what I did."
White declined to comment after the hearing.
Hargraves was an outstanding football and basketball player at Glenvar High School and went on to play at Norfolk State University.
"He was a great football player with all kinds of natural ability," said Roger Martin, Glenvar's athletic director and Hargraves' former coach. "I just hate to see this happen to him."
by CNB