Two Charged With Kidnapping In Newburyport

Yesterday at 6:46 p.m., a motorist stopped and advised a trooper working a construction detail that a female had jumped out of a vehicle on Route 95 southbound in Newburyport. Patrols from the State Police Barracks in Newbury were notified and within minutes the female was located on Route 113 near the ramp from Route 95. The victim, a 53-year-old Danvers woman, had sustained minor injuries and was bleeding. Newburyport Fire Department responded to the scene but the victim refused medical treatment.

The 2014 Ford Focus the victim had jumped out of on the highway was stopped nearby. The operator of the Ford, 52-year-old JAMES PORETTA of Peabody, and the passenger, 55-year-old JOSEPH PORETTA, were both at that location. The initial investigation by Trooper Scott Grimes indicates that the victim went to visit the suspects, who were known to her. During the course of the visit, the victim was physically restrained and forced into the Ford Focus against her will. The victim had informed the suspects she wanted to leave the vehicle and was restrained from doing so during travel in the vehicle. On Route 95 the victim jumped out of the moving vehicle to escape.

The two suspects were arrested at the scene. JOSEPH PORETTA is charged with the following offenses:

1. Kidnapping
2. Assault to commit a felony

JAMES PORETTA is charged with:

1. Kidnapping
2. Assault

Both suspects were booked and transferred to the Middleton Jail where they were ordered held without bail by bail commissioner John Fleming until their arraignment at the Newburyport District Court this morning.

No further information is available at this time. Please do not contact the barracks.