Rain likely. Low 42F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch..
Rain likely. Low 42F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a quarter of an inch.
Jason Simpson arrives at a Bennington County courtroom for his arraignment on kidnapping charges.
Jason Simpson at his arraignment.
Jason Simpson arrives at a Bennington County courtroom for his arraignment on kidnapping charges.
Jason Simpson at his arraignment.
BENNINGTON — A Massachusetts man was arraigned in Bennington Superior Court Monday on human trafficking and kidnapping charges after fleeing authorities for several weeks in a case involving guns, drugs, ransom, beatings and a victim’s late-night return to Vermont in an Uber.
Jason Simpson, 26, has been the subject of a Vermont arrest warrant on kidnapping charges since Sept. 16. He was picked up on Oct. 13 by local authorities in Springfield, Mass, and returned to Bennington County after waiving his extradition rights. Simpson appeared Monday afternoon in front of Judge Kerry McDonald-Cary for arraignment on four counts — human trafficking and labor servitude, kidnapping for ransom, kidnapping with bodily injury and aggravated assault. The kidnapping and human trafficking charges carry maximum life sentences if Simpson is found guilty. The aggravated assault has a possibility of 15 years behind bars if convicted. The judge found a fifth charge, extortion, to lack probable cause; that charge was dismissed.
Simpson pleaded not guilty on all counts through his temporarily assigned lawyer for the arraignment, who appeared via video link. An effort to find permanent a lawyer has proven difficult, as many of Bennington’s local defense attorneys are already involved with other suspects in the same case.
The kidnapping case took a bizarre twist when two individuals hired an Uber to bring the victim back to Vermont for a ransom exchange.
According to a police affidavit, on Sept. 12 at 6:11 p.m., police were alerted by the victim’s boyfriend that drug dealers had kidnapped his girlfriend. The boyfriend told police that he had been selling drugs for individuals against his will for a few weeks in the Bennington area and owed them money. Two people arrived at the boyfriend’s Bennington residence and, after roughing the boyfriend up, allegedly kidnapped the girlfriend and drove her down to Massachusetts, where she was held against her will for nearly two days until the boyfriend could come up with the $1,500 he allegedly owed the drug suppliers.
Alerted to the situation, and with the boyfriend's help, police set up a drop point for the girlfriend to be released in exchange for the money. Officers staked out the area around 260 Benmont Ave. in Bennington as the boyfriend waited for a vehicle coming from Springfield to arrive.
At about 1 a.m., a gray Ford Focus with Massachusetts plates showed up at the drop point with five individuals inside. When police approached the vehicle, two individuals jumped out of the back seat and ran behind an apartment complex. They then fled into a nearby apartment. The girlfriend, also seated in the back seat, was seen running from the vehicle. She and her boyfriend hid near a stairwell, according to the affidavit.
The two individuals in the car's front seats, a female driver and a female passenger, did not flee. Both were questioned at the scene by officers. Within a short period, they were deemed innocent Uber drivers who did not know they were part of the kidnapping plan. They were allowed to leave after giving statements.
Inside the apartment into which the couple who brought back the victim fled, police found several items of evidence, including multiple bags of fentanyl, crack cocaine and a loaded handgun.
It is alleged in the affidavit that Simpson was one of the drug dealers who was owed drug money and organized the kidnapping.
Several individuals involved in the case are under arrest, including the two individuals who escorted the victim back to Vermont and the drug dealers who set up the kidnapping. The victim and her boyfriend in the case were also arrested on unrelated drug charges a few weeks later.
Simpson is being held without bail at the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland until an attorney can be found for his weight of evidence hearing. He appeared alone at the defense table in hand and leg irons and a bright red jumpsuit as sheriff’s deputies stood close by. As of press time, no lawyer has been assigned.
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