GIRL, 7, SURVIVES LAKE BRIDGE TOSS
Worcester man accused of kidnapping
WORCESTER — A 35-year-old man is being held without bail after he was accused of kidnapping a sleeping 7-year-old girl from her grandparents’ home early Sunday, and trying to choke her before throwing her off a bridge, prosecutors said
— an ordeal the plucky girl amazingly survived.
Joshua Hubert, 35, of Worcester, hid behind a door yesterday at Worcester District Court as he pleaded not guilty to a charge of kidnap- ping.
Prosecutor Cheryl Riddle said Hubert was at a cookout at the home early Sunday. Hubert “made statements” that he left about 2:30 a.m., Riddle said.
However, the girl was found sopping wet in pajamas at 4:30 a.m. Sunday in Shrewsbury.
Authorities said Hubert threw the girl off a bridge into Lake Quinsigamond, but she managed to swim to safety and sought help at a nearby home.
“A woman in Shrewsbury was awoken by knocks at the door and found the 7-yearold victim standing at her door in pajamas, soaking wet,” Riddle said.
She said the girl had contusions on her leg, her forearms and wrist, and was bleeding on her face and scalp, while her neck appeared to have been choked.
Hubert is being held without bail pending a dangerousness hearing Thursday. His attorney, Richard Welsh Jr., declined to comment in court. However, outside of court, he quoted his client: “He said, ‘I maintain my innocence.’ ”
A man and a woman who came out of a Worcester home where the girl’s grandparents live declined to comment yesterday. Neighbor Israel Felic, 64, said in Spanish, “None of what he did was good. I’m wondering what was going through his head?”
Another neighbor, Anne Ford, 51, said the girl’s grandparents dote on her and they are most likely struggling to cope with what their beloved granddaughter endured. “They’re probably in there consoling each other . ... I am totally relieved that she did survive. I feel totally awful that she had that sequence of events,” Ford said. “They do love their grandchildren. They do things with them all the time.”