NORFOLK --Santiago Powell greeted two young female sailors at gunpoint in December 2009. To prove he was the "baddest" gangster in the city, a prosecutor said, Powell held the women for hours while he robbed and raped them.
A jury on Monday convicted Powell of 28 felonies, including four counts of rape, abduction, robbery and weapons violations. Circuit Judge Mary Jane Hall followed the jury's recommendation and sentenced Powell to six life terms, plus 253 years.
The five-day trial brought testimony about Powell's role in a local affiliate of the Bloods gang.
"He thrives on power and he thrives on violence, and that's why he committed these crimes," prosecutor Charlotte Purkey said.
The first victim testified that Powell, 24, broke into her apartment on Dec. 9, 2009, and pointed a gun at her face. The woman, an active-duty Navy sailor, said that Powell robbed her, raped her and threatened to have her killed.
The woman said she thought her life was over. "This is it," she said she told herself. "It's not fair."
Purkey said the attack lasted three to five hours.
Powell stole the first victim's cell phone and, days later, used it to lure the second victim, according to testimony.
Powell and an accomplice traded texts to the second victim, also an active-duty sailor, and met her in a quiet neighborhood.
The two men pointed guns at the woman, blindfolded her, took her car and drove her around for several hours.
During the abduction, the accomplice, William Barco, used a phone that had been given to him by a Norfolk city employee and paid for with city funds, according to officials and court documents. Barco goes to trial this month.
After Powell dropped off Barco, he took the woman to a hotel and raped her three times, she testified.
"He took my life in his hands and played with it like a toy," she said.
The ordeal lasted for 13 hours, she said.
Powell was captured days later near Oceanair Elementary School. He was lured to the school by police and the first victim, who contacted Powell on her stolen cell phone. She pretended to be another woman wanting to meet him, according to testimony.
Instead, he was met by police.
The minimum punishment for the convictions was more than 100 years in prison. Defense attorney Daymen Robinson asked the jury for leniency, saying Powell had a difficult life and grew up in foster homes. Robinson said he plans to appeal.
The women said their lives had been permanently changed but vowed it would not hinder them. The second victim said she now looks forward to deployments.
"That was one place he couldn't get to me," she said, "out in the ocean."
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