CHARLES CITY COUNTY, Va. -- Prosecutors in Charles City County have opted to set aside, or in legal terms nolle prosse, charges against the man accused of abducting a teen off the streets of Richmond.
CBS 6 confirmed that the commonwealth attorney's has nolle prossed the case against Delvin Barnes on Wednesday.
Barnes was charged with abduction, forcible rape, malicious wounding with a chemical and other charges related to the early October disappearance of a 16-year-old girl from Richmond, according to investigators. That girl managed to escape after two days, walking two miles, naked and burned, into a business to seek help.
However, officials pointed out that those charges could be reinstated in the future.
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Barnes pleaded not guilty last month to abducting a Philadelphia nurse’s assistant and holding her captive for three days.
Carlesha Freeland-Gaither’s abduction on November 2 was captured on a surveillance video in Philadelphia and sparked a manhunt involving the FBI, Philadelphia police, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the U.S. Marshal’s Service.
Freeland-Gaither, 22, was found in Jessup, Maryland on November 5. Barnes, 37, was arrested that same day after police tracked him down using his car’s GPS device.
Barnes allegedly forced the victim to lie bound and cold in the trunk of his car as he drove from Philadelphia to Maryland, court documents said. When he was arrested in Maryland, he was in the back seat of his car, lying next to the victim.
If convicted, Barnes faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Barnes, who is being held in a federal prison in Pennsylvania, will be tried by the feds for the abduction of a woman there.
Stay with WTVR.com and CBS 6 News for updates on this developing story.
