[B]URLINGTON — A man accused of fleeing from a drug treatment facility in Vermont, kidnapping a woman from a mall parking lot and sexually assaulting her entered not guilty pleas Friday to charges that could send him to prison for the rest of his life, if convicted.
Everett Simpson waived his appearance at his arraignment on the charges Friday in federal court in Burlington and not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf.
Meanwhile, Anthony Carr, a lawyer from the firm Shaheen & Gordon in New Hampshire who represents the woman and her 5-year-old child, had set a Friday deadline for the state of Vermont and the treatment center to settle the “civil liability” each had in the case.
Carr had said that if that deadline was not met, he would have no choice but to file a lawsuit against the state and Valley Vista treatment center in Bradford.
Carr, however, did not respond to phone and email messages Friday.
He said in a statement issued last week that he had been trying to work with both parties “to obtain justice for this young family for the preventable trauma they have endured and for the consequences they will suffer from this trauma for the rest of their lives.”
Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan said in a statement Friday afternoon he was not aware of the filing of a lawsuit regarding the matter.
“We have received some communication from the (woman’s) attorney and we stand ready to continue our conversation,” the statement added.
Valley Vista officials could not be reached Friday for comment.
Meanwhile, the criminal case against the 41-year-old Simpson continues to proceed.
Simpson was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury sitting in Vermont with two counts of kidnapping and two counts of interstate transport of a stolen vehicle.
The charges against Simpson, all felonies, carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
David McColgin, a federal public defender representing Simpson, declined comment following the arraignment Friday in Burlington.
During the hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Lasher said the prosecution is continuing to assemble the evidence collected in the case.
“It’s going to be quite voluminous,” the prosecutor told Magistrate Judge John Conroy.
Simpson was arrested last month in Pennsylvania after crashing a car in a chase with police following a manhunt that stretched across the Northeast
The pursuit of Simpson after he fled from the Valley Vista treatment center in Bradford has also prompted Vermont State Police to launch an internal investigation into its handling of the matter.
State police, in a statement last month, acknowledged that “additional steps should have been taken” in pursuit of Simpson.
The state police review, which remains ongoing, includes 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.
According to court filings, Simpson forced the woman and her 5-year-old child into their car outside of the Mall of New Hampshire in Manchester on Saturday, Jan. 5.
He then drove the woman, whom he had never before met, and her child to White River Junction, where he forced the the woman to rent a hotel room where he sexually assaulted her, court records stated.
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.
Simpson, who police said sexually assaulted the woman in Windsor County, has not yet been charged with that offense in state court in Vermont.
Windsor County State’s Attorney David Cahill said an email that his office on Friday received an aggravated sexual assault case against Simpson and he expected “to review and charge the case as appropriate next week.”
Simpson is currently being held without bail at the Northwest State Correctional Facility in Swanton.
