A Columbia Heights man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the kidnapping and severe beating of a woman outside her workplace, the Hennepin County attorney's office announced Friday.

Early this week, Henry Moore, 25, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and aggravated robbery. In addition, he admitted to several aggravating circumstances, which allowed Judge Kathryn Quaintance to double the recommended sentence for kidnapping to 192 months and to run the 48-month robbery sentence consecutively with the kidnapping sentence.

"I thought she looked worse than many homicide cases I have seen," Assistant County Attorney Vicki Taylor told the judge, referring to the victim's appearance. "I'm very glad that if she had to have suffered this, that it was better a robbery than a murder case."

According to the criminal complaint, about 9:20 p.m. on Oct. 21, police responded to an alarm at the Unbank at 1508 W. Broadway. They found an Unbank employee screaming for help, with serious injuries to her face, forehead, eyes, chest and neck. She told police that after she locked up the store and headed to her car, two men grabbed her and shoved her into the back seat. In court, Moore admitted that they assaulted her with a Taser and a hammer, demanding that she tell them the combination to the safe. When she refused, they drove around, continuing the torture until returning to the Unbank nearly two hours later. She relented and was going to open the safe, but they tripped the alarm and fled.

DAVID CHANEN