[V]ermont State Police say they failed to take appropriate action after being told Friday that a St. Johnsbury man fled a drug treatment facility. The man went on what authorities described as a violent crime spree over the weekend, in which he abducted a woman and her child, forced her into a hotel room and sexually assaulted her.
A state police spokesperson said an investigation is underway to determine how police responded after receiving the notification Friday that Everett Simpson had escaped the treatment center, including why troopers didn’t seek a warrant for his arrest or alert the public.
“The Vermont State Police has determined that there were additional steps that should have been taken,” Adam Silverman, a Vermont State Police spokesman, said in an email issued late Tuesday night, “including seeking an arrest warrant on Friday night, Jan. 4; issuing a ‘be on the lookout’ alert for Simpson; and issuing a news release informing the public about Simpson.”
Simpson, 41, was released from prison on Jan. 3 to receive treatment at Valley Vista, which was ordered by the court to notify either the state police or the St. Johnsbury Police Department if Simpson was not at the facility.
The ABC television station, Local 22 WVNY, reported Tuesday evening that local and state police weren’t made aware that Simpson had left the treatment facility in Bradford until after they learned of an alleged sexual assault he committed Saturday in Vermont.
“Bradford rehab center failed to report kidnapping suspect was missing,” read the headline of the TV’s station report.
The television station quoted an email from Adam Silverman, a state police spokesperson, that stated, “The Vermont State Police received no notification that Everett Simpson had left the facility.”
However, later Tuesday evening, Silverman issued a statement saying that Valley Vista had indeed informed authorities that Simpson was not at the facility.
“As the manhunt for Simpson unfolded, initial information available to Vermont State Police investigators did not show that Valley Vista had notified police as required,” Silverman wrote in the later statement.
“However,” he added, “on Tuesday evening, Jan. 8, state police learned that Valley Vista had made a report late Friday … that Simpson had left the facility in violation of his court-ordered conditions. The timeline and circumstances surrounding that notification and how state troopers responded is currently under investigation by the Vermont State Police.”
In a later release Tuesday night, state police provided a timeline of Simpson’s activities. According to the timeline:
• 7:26 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 3 – Simpson posts bond and is released from Department of Corrections custody with a court-ordered condition that he report to Valley Vista.
• 10:59 p.m. Thursday, Jan 3 — Simpson arrives at Valley Vista.
• 9:47 p.m. Friday, Jan. 4 — Vermont State Police dispatch receives a complaint from Valley Vista that Simpson has left the facility. In response to the call, a trooper at the St. Johnsbury barracks speaks with the caller from Valley Vista and learns that Simpson has not been seen since 8:30 p.m.
“The trooper responds to the last known address for Simpson in St. Johnsbury but is unsuccessful in locating him,” the release stated. “The trooper then receives additional information from Valley Vista, including the phone number Simpson had last called, but when the trooper called that number, it had been shut off.”
• 11:38 p.m. Friday, Jan. 4 — A police dog track was considered but determined not to be a viable option. The trooper was dispatched to handle another call.
• 12:56 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 5 — Before going off duty, the trooper emails other troopers in the barracks to update them about Simpson.
• 7:53 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 5 — Another trooper at the St. Johnsbury barracks receives a report of a stolen vehicle in the town of Newbury. A GPS device in the vehicle tracks it to New Hampshire, and Vermont State Police in St. Johnsbury issue a “be on the lookout” alert for the stolen vehicle.
• 8:37 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 5 — The vehicle is located unoccupied in a parking garage in Manchester, New Hampshire, by local police.
• 4:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 5 — Valley Vista provides to VSP a description of the clothing Simpson was last known to be wearing to compare with surveillance photos from the location where the vehicle was found.
• 6:34 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 5 — Hartford police ask state police in St. Johnsbury to check a location in West Fairlee that may be connected to Simpson. While troopers are en route, a VSP supervisor in St. Johnsbury asks Hartford about their investigation and learns Simpson is a suspect in a sexual assault in White River Junction.
• 3:22 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 6 — Hartford police obtain an arrest warrant for Simpson on suspicion of kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, interference with access to emergency services, aggravated operation without owner’s consent, and violation of conditions of release.
• 10:54 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 6 — Hartford police formally request assistance from the Vermont State Police in their investigation related to the kidnapping and sexual assault in which Simpson has been identified as a suspect. VSP deploys multiple resources including Major Crime Unit, Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Tactical Services Unit and others.
• About 6 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 6 — Police in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania, take Simpson into custody following a vehicle pursuit.
Officials with Valley Vista did not return a phone call Tuesday afternoon seeking comment.
St. Johnsbury Police Chief Tim Page did say Tuesday that he had checked with his dispatchers and his department had no record of a notification from Valley Vista.
He said he was surprised to learn that his department was listed as an agency to contact and suggested that it was probably a mistake on the court record, which he said might have meant to say the state police barracks in St. Johnsbury.
Simpson had previously been held on $20,000 bail following his arrest in September, according to police, following a vehicle theft, pursuit and aggravated assault on a Vermont state trooper in Lyndon.
However, on Jan. 2, Caledonia County Superior Court Judge Robert Bent approved a plan worked out with the prosecutor and Simpson’s defense attorney to allow him to attend the substance-abuse rehabilitation facility Valley Vista in Bradford.
Simpson was taken into custody Sunday following a more than 24-hour manhunt across the Northeast. He was arrested in Pennsylvania after a police chase in which he crashed into a utility pole, according to police.
He is currently being held on $1 million bail in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, federal prosecutors in Vermont also charged Simpson with kidnapping.
According to a document filed in support of the federal kidnapping charges, a day before his arrest, on Saturday afternoon, Simpson allegedly forced a woman and her 5-year-old son into their car outside of the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester.
He then allegedly drove the vehicle to White River Junction where he then forced the woman to rent a room at a motel. He then sexually assaulted the woman in the room, according to police.
The woman and child were able to contact police to report the assault after he left the room, at which point the FBI, the Vermont State Police and the Hartford Police Department began a manhunt for Simpson.
Kraig LaPorte, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Vermont, said Tuesday that no timeline had been set for when Simpson would return to Vermont to face the federal charges.
