Charges filed against New England kidnapping, sex suspect

HARTFORD, Vt. (AP) - A man who authorities said forced a woman and her child into a car in New Hampshire, drove to Vermont, and sexually assaulted the woman, was arraigned Monday in a hospital in Pennsylvania, where he was apprehended after a manhunt and car chase, police said.

Everett Simpson, 41, was held on $1 million each on charges of car theft and fleeing justice, police said. Federal prosecutors in Vermont also filed kidnapping charges Monday.

Simpson pushed a woman and her child into their car outside the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester on Saturday and drove to White River Junction, Vermont, police said. The woman told police that he sexually assaulted her in a hotel room in front of her son and then left, according to the complaint.

That set off a manhunt for Simpson, a former resident of St. Albans, Vermont. The FBI, Vermont State Police and the Hartford Police Department worked together on the search.

Simpson had escaped from an addiction treatment facility in Bradford, Vermont, and driven to New Hampshire in a stolen vehicle, police said.

The woman told police that Simpson said he had learned that his wife was cheating on him and he wanted to find her so he could hurt her, according to a FBI affidavit.

A call was made to an attorney who has represented Simpson in the past, seeking comment.

On Sunday afternoon, police from Prospect Park, Pennsylvania, were trying to make an unrelated traffic stop when an automated system flagged the car in question as stolen, according to Vermont State Police. The car did not stop, and a chase ensued.

The car was eventually abandoned, and police were searching for the driver when another vehicle was reported stolen. Officers gave chase again, and that car crashed into a telephone pole.

Police from Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, took the driver into custody, and he was identified as Simpson. He was taken to a hospital, Vermont police said.

Simpson faces extradition to Vermont.