Man charged with kidnapping mother and child goes on trial

By WILSON RING
Associated Press

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A federal court trial is underway in Vermont for a man charged with kidnapping a woman and her 4-year-old son in early 2019. The trial of 45-year-old Everett Simpson began Tuesday and is expected to last four days. Simpson is representing himself. Prosecutors say Simpson left a Vermont drug abuse treatment center on Jan. 4, 2019, stole a vehicle, and traveled to a mall in Manchester, New Hampshire, where he is accused of pushing the woman and child into their car and then driving them to Vermont. Simpson was charged separately in state court with sexually assaulting the woman. He has not yet entered a plea on that charge.