VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - A 22-year-old man will serve 15 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to attempting to sexually assault a woman at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront.
Najee Chinyelu Bullock received a sentence of 30 years in prison with 15 years suspended on charges of abduction with the intent to defile. This sentence was above the high end of the Virginia State Sentencing Guidelines, which recommended a maximum sentence of 10 years and seven months in prison.
According to court documents, at about 2 a.m. on December 29, 2019, Bullock approached a woman as she attempted to get into an Uber. He claimed he lost his phone and his friends left him, and he asked for her help in finding his phone.
The woman helped him look along the sand where he claimed to have lost his phone, and eventually let him use her phone to try to use the Find My iPhone app.
Bullock then grabbed the woman from behind, placed his hand over her mouth and tackled her to the ground in an attempt to sexually assault her. As he did so, the woman activated the emergency function on her iPhone by holding the side buttons, which allowed her to dial dispatch.
On the 911 call, dispatch heard the victim whispering into the phone for help and begging Bullock not to hurt her. Bullock’s voice was heard telling her they needed to get closer to the water and that he just wanted to masturbate.
Police arrived at the scene, and Bullock attempted to run away with the victim's phone before being taken into custody two streets away.
In an interview with News 3's Kofo Lasaki, the victim says the Emergency SOS feature on her phone may have saved her life.
“They were originally going to look in the hotels and dispatch updated them that I was talking about the water— I’m begging him not to drown, I don’t want to drown - so they knew to come look in the sand," she said. “All the cards lined up for me, but I know that doesn’t always happen and people aren’t so lucky. And if there’s anything we can do to be proactive, we should do it.”
