Man gets 10 years in abduction, robbery

1/9/2013

An Ottawa County man who police said raped and robbed a woman at knifepoint after helping her change a flat tire was sentenced yesterday to more than 10 years in prison.

Craig Hallauer, 27, of 818 Reynolds Rd., Martin, was sentenced to 10 years and five months in prison by Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Frederick McDonald for aggravated robbery and attempted abduction. The rape charge was dropped with the victim's consent as part of a plea bargain.

At yesterday's hearing, the victim said Hallauer posed as a good Samaritan Aug. 31 when he and another man stopped to help the woman change a flat tire in a parking lot near Woodville Road and Holmes Street.

After the tire was changed, the friend left, and Hallauer asked the woman for a ride. Lou Kountouris, an assistant county prosecutor, said when they arrived at Logan and Oliver streets, Hallauer made sexual advances that the woman resisted. He said Hallauer pulled out a knife and raped her, then made her drive to Clayton and Oliver streets, and took a necklace, two bracelets, and two rings from her.

“This supposedly good person who gained my trust by changing my flat tire, turned around and became a noncaring, harmful, inconsiderate, savage individual,” the victim told Judge McDonald. “This individual stripped me of my self-esteem and my dignity. He not only raped me physically - he raped me mentally as well.”

The victim said when she asked Hallauer not to take her late-husband's ring, he said “hurry up or I will cut your fingers off.”

Judge McDonald said the violent nature of the crime and Hallauer's record of nine felonies and 12 misdemeanors made the sentence appropriate.