2 weeks Ago
One woman's frightening ride through southern Albemarle County with an uninvited stranger in her car has resulted in a criminal charge for a Schuyler man with a history of drug-addled transgressions. Matthew Lee Baber, 35, who allegedly entered the woman's vehicle the afternoon of May 25 and forced her to drive for more than 20 miles, has been charged with abduction. "Throughout the drive, the victim was directed from Scottsville Rd, to Coles Rolling, back to Scottsville Rd.
, to Riding Club Rd. to Fortune Ln, back to Riding Club and Scottsville, down to Irish, to Schuyler and finally to Howardsville Turnpike," wrote Albemarle County police officer Camden Layman. It was the same man Layman asserted he had seen earlier that day acting strangely at the Green Mountain Country Store.
Baber "Intoxicated," the officer wrote, "refusing to leave the property of the store, and was asking every bystander for rides." One such bystander was Tara Putnam, who allegedly told Baber that she was not headed to town. Undeterred, Baber jumped in, and told her to drive and to refrain from calling law enforcement, she later told police.
She also told police that her alleged captor made concerning utterances. "He made statements about his kids, about how he was going to die, and was telling Putnam to swerve in front of traffic," Layman wrote. The officer asserted that three times Baber asked to take the wheel, and the woman refused.
At one point, the officer asserted, the woman unsuccessfully offered to turn the car over to her uninvited passenger if he would let her remove her dog. Baber refused. "Throughout the incident, the victim's mother was calling the victim on her cell phone," wrote Layman.
"The victim stated that she didn't answer her mother's calls because she was scared and didn't know what Baber would do if she answered." Finally, after about 23 1/2 miles, as the car traveled along the 9000 block of Howardsville Turnpike, Baber leaped out of the moving vehicle. Officers subsequently found him nearby walking out of the woods.
"Baber had a few lacerations to the back of his head and some road rash to his back," Layman wrote. In addition to abduction, which can carry a 10-year maximum sentence, Baber has also been charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, which, as long as the vehicle is worth more than $1,000, can bring up to five years. In 2017, Baber pleaded guilty to breaking into a Schuyler man's home while the resident was on a toilet, pointing a gun at the man's head and demanding to use a telephone.
When that case was resolved with a three-year active sentence, the prosecutor indicated that Baber must have been under the influence of methamphetamine. He had, after all, apologized to the man on the toilet when Baber's father retrieved him from the house, according to the prosecutor's account. As part of Baber's punishment for that incident, he was slated to go on probation with a zero-tolerance drug policy for five years after his release.
The Virginia Department of Corrections lists his release date as Nov. 18, 2019. Baber is slated to appear in Albemarle County General District Court on Sept.
5 for his latest charges. Hawes Spencer (434) 960-9343 [email protected] @HawesSpencer on X Get the latest in local public safety news with this weekly email.
Crime and courts reporter {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items..
