Commonwealth v. Daniel Ricardo Lane Adams; Man Sentenced to 15 Years for Raping Virginia Wesleyan Student

Virginia Beach, Va. – Colin D. Stolle, Commonwealth’s Attorney for the city of Virginia Beach, announced that Daniel Ricardo Lane Adams was sentenced today by Circuit Court Judge A. Bonwill Shockley for Rape. Adams was sentenced to twenty (20) years in prison with five (5) years suspended, leaving fifteen (15) years to serve. Adams was found guilty of Rape after a jury trial on September 22, 2023.

The Commonwealth’s evidence proved that on April 28, 2022, a female Virginia Wesleyan student attended a cookout on campus. While there with friends, she met Daniel Ricardo Lane Adams, and they exchanged Snap Chat names. Adams claimed to be a 23-year-old Harvard student, but he was actually 29-years-old and was working on a social media app promoting parties. Adams and the student later ended up at the same party and continued to talk. Eventually they went to the student’s house together and interacted with one another. When the student told Adams that she wanted to go to sleep, he then forcefully sexually assaulted her while holding her hands above her head and choking her. Eventually he stopped and rolled over to go to sleep.

The victim left the room and immediately told a friend what happened to her. She returned to her room and told Adams he had to leave. The next day, she reported the assault to a counselor, who encouraged her to go have a Sexual Assault Nurse Examination (SANE exam) done. The nurse performing the SANE exam noted bruising and redness on the victim’s body. Adams’ DNA was a match to samples of fluids taken from the victim’s body during the SANE exam.

Adams was arrested on January 30, 2023, and denied having sexual intercourse with the victim. After his arrest, two additional victims came forward to police and reported being sexually assaulted by Adams. Although these cases were not prosecuted, the Court heard about these other allegations during the sentencing hearing today.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Megan M. Lang prosecuted this case. Please contact Macie Allen if additional information is desired.