Everett A. Simpson was convicted on all counts

Following a jury trial, Everett A. Simpson, 45, formerly of St. Johnsbury, was convicted on all counts – two counts of federal kidnapping and two counts of interstate transportation of stolen vehicles. According to court documents Simpson absconded from the Valley Vista treatment facility in Bradford, Vermont, and stole a commercial van in Newbury, Vermont, eventually deserting that vehicle in a parking garage in Manchester, New Hampshire on the morning of January 5. Later that same day, in the parking lot of the Mall of New Hampshire, Simpson kidnapped a young woman and her four-year-old child after forcing his way into the young woman’s car. Simpson held the woman and her child against their will, driving from New Hampshire into Vermont, where Simpson attempted to locate his estranged wife. After abandoning the effort to find his wife, Simpson continued the kidnapping, now seeking to assault the young woman sexually. Simpson assaulted the woman in her car and at a hotel in White River Junction before freeing her and her child. Simpson fled the area in the woman’s stolen car. Simpson was eventually arrested after two high-speed pursuits in Pennsylvania, driving a third vehicle he had stolen. Simpson faces a mandatory minimum of twenty years imprisonment and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.