[B]URLINGTON – An attorney has given the state until Friday to settle claims by his client that Vermont’s lax response to a man’s escape from a court-ordered drug treatment center led to her being kidnapped and sexually assaulted by him.
Anthony Carr, a personal injury lawyer from the firm Shaheen & Gordon in New Hampshire, is representing the woman and her 5-year-old child, who prosecutors say were kidnapped from the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester, New Hampshire, early last month. Everett Simpson, 41, the defendant, has yet to enter a plea in the case.
Carr said Tuesday that he’s given both the Vermont Attorney General’s Office and the Valley Vista treatment facility in Bradford until Friday to respond to his request to resolve the matter.
If they don’t meet his deadline, Carr says he intends to file a lawsuit.
“Vermont and Valley Vista have been on notice of their potential liability from the moment this incident happened,” Carr said. “Us writing to them was an invitation for them to do what they already knew was an option, to do the right thing, and not force our client into litigation.”
Carr said Tuesday he had yet to hear from officials from either the Vermont Attorney General’s Office or Valley Vista despite contacting both weeks ago. He added that he would consider a request for more time, if they did write back to him requesting it.
“If we file suit it’s because we have no other choice,” he said.
The attorney said both the state of Vermont and the treatment center must be held accountable for their actions.
Shortly after Simpson’s arrest, Vermont State Police announced an internal investigation into its handling of its pursuit of him, including looking into why troopers didn’t seek a warrant for Simpson’s arrest or alert the public immediately after receiving notice that he fled Valley Vista.
In announcing that internal investigation, state police also acknowledged that “additional steps should have been taken” to pursue Simpson.
Carr wouldn’t disclose Tuesday specifically what he is seeking from either party, but under the Vermont Tort Claims Act he estimated the claim against the state at between $1 million and $2 million.
However, he said, no amount of money could ever fully compensate his client for the pain and suffering she had to endure.
“Her energy and her spirit are helping her through this,” Carr said of his client. “This was a very traumatic incident for her, and there will be trauma for her for the rest of her life.”
According to court filings, Simpson forced the woman and her child into their car outside of the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester on Saturday, Jan. 5.
He drove the car to White River Junction where he then forced the woman to get a room at a motel, court records stated. He then sexually assaulted the woman in the room, according to police.
“The victim is a stranger who was targeted at random,” police said in a statement after the incident. The woman and child were able to contact police to report the assault after he left the room.
Simpson had been facing criminal charges in Vermont stemming from his September arrest in a car-chase case in Caledonia County. He was released from state custody on Jan. 3 after posting $3,000 bail and ordered to attend the Valley Vista 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 of Friday, Jan. 4, after Simpson escaped.
It was over that weekend, according to court filings, Simpson abducted the woman and her 5-year-old child from the Mall of New Hampshire parking.
Simpson was later arrested that Sunday, Jan. 6, in Pennsylvania after crashing a car in a chase with police. He had been held on $1 million bail in that state on charges stemming from that chase prior to his return to Vermont to face the federal kidnapping charge.
Neither the attorney general’s office nor Valley Vista could immediately be reached Tuesday for comment on whether they intend to settle the claims.
Carr spoke to VTDigger by phone Tuesday from New Hampshire moments before Simpson made his first appearance in a Vermont courtroom to face kidnapping charges.
David McColgin, a federal public defender, made an appeal to release his client to an inpatient drug treatment facility during the hearing Tuesday in federal court in Burlington before Magistrate Judge John Conroy.
McColgin, who declined comment following the hearing, pointed to his client’s “strong ties” to Vermont, and his need for substance abuse treatment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Lasher objected to the request, asking that Simpson remain in custody while the kidnapping case against him remains pending. In court filings, prosecutors said Simpson posed a risk of flight and danger to the public, if released.
Conroy granted Lasher’s request to hold Simpson in custody. The judge called the evidence against Simpson in support of the kidnapping charge “quite strong.”
“This is an exceedingly serious case,” he added.
Simpson, wearing a red prison jumpsuit with the word “Booking” written on the back, said little during the hearing other than he understood the kidnapping charge against him.
Carr has previously submitted public records to state agencies and departments, including one sent to the Vermont Attorney General’s office on behalf of “Jane Doe and her child – kidnapped at Mall of New Hampshire.”
In that request, Carr makes roughly a dozen separate requests for information, including the recording of the call from Jan. 4 when Valley Vista informed police that Simpson had escaped and all surveillance footage of Simpson, including his escape from Valley Vista.
Assistant Attorney General Bram Kranichfeld, criminal division chief, responded to that public records request Monday, saying the attorney general’s office did not have any responsive materials.
Carr said Tuesday he’ll continue in his pursuit for the records by submitting his next request to the Vermont State Police.
“They seem to playing it’s not behind door number 1,” he added. “So we’ll try door number 2.”
