New Hampshire man charged with raping teen in 10-month kidnap ordeal

[December 18, 2014]  By Ted Siefer
 
 MANCHESTER, N.H. (Reuters) - A New Hampshire man repeatedly raped a teenage girl, binding her and using a "Taser-like" device to punish her over the 10-month period he held her in a shipping container, state prosecutors charged in court documents on Wednesday.

Nathaniel Kibby, 34, was charged with more than 150 counts of felonious sexual assault against the victim, who was not identified but is believed to be 15-year-old Abigail Hernandez, who disappeared in October 2013 from the mountain town of Conway.

Her disappearance prompted a highly publicized campaign by her family to find her, until she mysteriously returned home in July.

Until the release of the indictments on Wednesday, authorities and the Hernandez family had shared little information about the circumstances of her disappearance or return, while Kibby remained held on $1 million cash bail on a single kidnapping charge.
 

Kibby intimidated the girl and attempted to destroy evidence including gags, an anti-bark collar of the type used on dogs and a fake surveillance camera, according to court papers. Descriptions of alleged sex crimes were redacted in publicly available versions of the documents.

Prosecutors contend many of the acts occurred in a metal shipping container Kibby kept behind his mobile home in Gorham.

According to the indictments, Kibby used a "Taser-like" device to punish his victim on several occasions, including when she attempted to "carve information" about Kibby into a letter she was compelled to send to her mother. That letter, the indictment indicates, was written in the interest of duping investigators.

Kibby is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges next month.

Kibby's attorney, Jesse Friedman, maintained his client's innocence but declined to discuss the case.

"These are in fact mere allegations, and Nate Kibby, like anyone accused of a crime, is constitutionally entitled to the presumption of innocence," he said in a statement.

If found guilty of all the charges, Kibby would face life in prison.

(Editing by Scott Malone and Eric Walsh)

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