PROVIDENCE — A man found walking with missing Medfield teenager Brittany Thompson in Coventry, R.I., faces a federal court hearing today in connection with her dissappearance, a law enforcement official said.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the senstitivity of the investigation, said the man taken into custody Thursday is the same person who walked out of a Medfield library on Monday with Thompson, triggering a massive search for the 17-year-old girl.
The man, whom authorities continue to refuse to identify, is scheduled to appear today in US District Court here and face charges that have not been made public. The man is set to appear before US District Court Magistrate Judge Patricia A. Sullivan.
The man was spotted on a surveillance camera leaving the library with Thompson, authorities said.
Thompson and the man were spotted at 6:48 a.m. Thursday by a passerby in Coventry who recognized them from news reports, police said. The passerby contacted police, who responded to the scene and took the pair voluntarily to the Coventry station for questioning.
Medfield police have said that Thompson appeared to leave the library willingly with the man and they were not treating the case as an abduction.
Maureen Thompson, Brittany’s mother, said this week that her daughter is “not emotionally a 17-year-old†and finds it easier to chat with people on the Internet than making friends.
Thompson’s parents drove to Coventry, about 50 miles away, after learning their daughter had been found. In an interview with Providence station WJAR-TV Channel 10 on Thursday, Michael Thompson, Brittany’s father, said his daughter “seems to be in very good condition, very good spirits. She’s doing well.â€
WJAR reported the man told authorities he was from Missouri.
Coventry police were being assisted by the US Department of Homeland Security, the Massachusetts State Police, and the West Greenwich, R.I., police.
Police searched a West Greenwich motel yesterday where Thompson and the man are believed to have stayed.
The discovery of the pair ended an agonizing three days in Medfield, where residents had been shaken by surveillance images that showed Thompson leaving the library with a man wearing a black T-shirt that read “Sons of Anarchy†and “Fear the Reaper.â€
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Peter Schworm can be reached at schworm@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @globepete.
