[A] Vermont State Police trooper suspended last week amid a probe of the agency’s handling of the case of a man who fled a drug treatment and was later arrested in Philadelphia after allegedly kidnapping a woman and sexually assaulting her is back on duty.
Trooper Sean Brennan was placed on paid administrative leave last week, on the same day Vermont State Police announced an internal probe into the response to the notification the department received that Everett Simpson had left the Valley Vista residential treatment facility.
On Tuesday, agency spokesperson Adam Silverman, in response to a public records request, said Brennan had been returned to active duty earlier in the day. He said he couldn’t comment if Brennan’s suspension was tied to the probe, or why Brennan was returned to full duty.
Silverman did say that the internal probe is ongoing.
That investigation is focused on the state police’s handling of the search for Simpson, 41, after officers were notified Jan. 4 by the Valley Vista treatment facility in Bradford that he fled the facility.
Simpson, who had been facing criminal charges stemming from his September arrest in a motor-vehicle pursuit case, was released from jail a day earlier after posting $3,000 bail so he could attend the treatment facility.
A condition of that release required Valley Vista to notify state police if he fled the facility.
According to state police, Valley Vista provided that notification on the night of Jan. 4.
On Saturday, Jan. 5, according to court filings, Simpson abducted a woman and her 5-year-old child from a mall parking lot in Manchester, New Hampshire. He then drove her to Vermont, and forced her into a hotel room where he sexually assaulted her, court records stated.
In a statement issued last week, state police said an investigation is underway to determine why troopers didn’t seek a warrant for Simpson’s arrest or alert the public after receiving notice he had fled Valley Vista.
Federal authorities have since filed federal kidnapping charges against Simpson following his arrest Sunday in Pennsylvania. He was taken into custody in that state after crashing in a car chase. He is being held on $1 million bail in Pennsylvania.
Simpson is due back in federal court in Vermont for a hearing Feb. 7 in Burlington for an arraignment on the kidnapping charge.
