by Mike Donoghue

BURLINGTON — A St. Johnsbury man, who was convicted for kidnapping a 23-year-old mother and her son in 2019 and stealing two cars and taking them across state lines, has been sentenced to 25 years in federal prison.

Everett A. Simpson, 46, will be on federal supervised release conditions for five years once he is discharged from prison.

Federal Senior Judge William K. Sessions III also imposed $400 in court costs, but waived any fine for Simpson during the hearing last week. 

Sessions said he would not order Simpson to undergo sex offender counseling in prison, but will wait toward the end of his term to have the Federal Bureau of Prisons evaluate him as a possible sex offender.

Testimony at trial showed Simpson sexually assaulted the woman at the Comfort Inn in White River Junction with her child present.

The victim said after the nearly 90-minute sentencing hearing that she will always be marked by Simpson’s criminal actions.

“Nothing is ever going to undo what he did. That’s all,” the New Hampshire woman told reporters as she stood outside the courtroom with her parents.

While the victim said she was willing to have her name reported in the media, the Caledonian-Record has opted not to report her name.

Sessions said it was “shocking conduct” and an “extremely serious offense.” He said the crime victim would have a “significant impact for perhaps the rest of her life.”

Simpson is appealing his convictions to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York City. He did say he hoped any sentence could be served on the west coast.

A federal jury found the former St. Albans man had forced the mother into her car in Manchester, N.H. and that he drove her against her will to the White River Junction area in Vermont on Jan. 5, 2019.

The woman and her son were set free with no physical injuries at the White River Junction inn when Simpson fled Vermont in her car that evening. Hartford Police soon flooded the hotel looking for clues and to conduct interviews.

Simpson, after dismissing several defense lawyers, represented himself during the April 2023 trial. The court did appoint Assistant Federal Defender Steven Barth as standby legal counsel.

In his closing argument, Simpson maintained it was a “he said, she said” case.

The two-hour verdict, which included time for the jurors to order and have lunch brought into the jury room, appeared to show there was little doubt on who to believe.

During his trial testimony, Simpson acknowledged he had stolen the two vehicles and took them across state lines.

Simpson stole a commercial van outside a home in Newbury during the early morning hours of Jan. 5, 2019 after fleeing from a court-ordered placement at Valley Vista, a drug rehabilitation center in nearby Bradford.

The van had the keys, a cellphone and more than $200 left inside in Newbury. He drove it to Manchester, N.H. where it ran out of gasoline. Simpson went to the nearby Mall of New Hampshire and eventually kidnapped the young woman and her 4-year-old son as they returned to her silver 2014 Kia Forte about 12:45 p.m.

The victim testified for almost one full day about the 5½-hour ordeal. She explained she believed she could not escape because her son was in a car seat, strapped onto the backseat. She said she did not want to leave her son behind with an unknown man.

Simpson has been held without bail on the federal charges since shortly after his arrest following two high-speed pursuits in Pennsylvania at the end of what officials said was a reign of terror.

He will get credit for his five years in detention.

Simpson had faced a mandatory minimum of 20 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison. Once calculated, the federal sentencing guidelines had recommended a penalty between 30 years and life.

Judge Sessions rejected Simpson’s claim that he had accepted responsibility for his actions. The judge said the trial showed otherwise.

During closing arguments Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Lasher acknowledged Simpson made the prosecution easier when he took the witness stand in his own defense and admitted to all of the elements of the crime involving the two stolen cars.

Lasher told the jury the only real issue was the question of whether the victim went voluntarily or if she and her son were taken against their will.

Simpson in his closing argument had questioned the thoroughness of the part of the federal investigation done by the FBI. He noted the primary FBI special agent had testified she never went to the crime scene and only copied a probable cause affidavit prepared by Hartford Police Detective Sgt. Scott Moody to seek state charges.

Simpson also faces a series of state charges in Windsor County related to the car theft, kidnapping and a sexual assault at room 106 at the Comfort Inn. He also faces a Habitual Offender charge, which carried a possible life sentence.

Windsor County State’s Attorney Ward Goodenough has said he expects to dismiss the state charges once the federal case is resolved. He said the cases were still pending as of Monday.

Lasher and Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul J. Van de Graaf presented about two dozen witnesses at the trial.

Simpson used four witnesses, including himself, and he recalled his estranged wife, Sharise Simpson.

The trial lasted seven days, including one day to pick the jury and five days for testimony. The final day covered closing arguments, Judge Sessions taking an hour to explain the various laws and legal concepts for the jury to consider, and the jury deliberation.

Simpson’s criminal troubles have roots with a Vermont State Police chase in September 2018 that led to his arrest on multiple charges, including aggravated assault on a state trooper in Caledonia County. Bail was eventually reduced by January 2019 and a judge sent Simpson to Valley Vista in Bradford for drug treatment, but he believed his wife was cheating on him and he fled the facility the night of Jan. 4, 2019 – less than a day after his admission.

Valley Vista, which was under a court order to report if Simpson left the treatment facility, failed to report his disappearance for at least 90 minutes, officials said. By that time Simpson was well on his way to Newbury to steal the van and put a crime spree into motion.

The victim later sued both the former owners of Valley Vista and the Vermont State Police in separate lawsuits for negligence.

The victim testified during the trial that Valley Vista agreed to pay $2 million for its negligence in the Simpson case. The state of Vermont Department of Public Safety paid $400,000.

U.S. Attorney Nikolas “Kolo” Kerest said Monday it was a serious case with a proper outcome.

“The defendant’s crimes were extraordinarily serious – both in their violent and random nature. An across-the-board guilty verdict in April and today’s sentencing closes a dark period in two victims’ lives and hopefully allows their healing process to continue and provides a sense of security to them and others, knowing that the community will be protected from this defendant for many years to come.”

He praised the work by the investigative agencies, including the Vermont State Police; the Hartford (Vt.) Police; the Manchester (N.H.) Police; the Upper Darby (Pennsylvania) Police and the FBI in Vermont, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.