A man charged with holding a woman captive for weeks and raping her inside a Northampton County rooming home is being held on $2.5 million bail.
The Morning Call reports, Steven Kitchell, 34, who was arrested earlier this month, waived his extradition and was brought before a judge on charges of kidnapping, rape, simple assault and other offenses. He is currently being held in the Northampton County prison, according the paper.
On May, 24, police say Kitchell and the 21-year-old woman had just become acquainted through a mutual friend when he took her prisoner inside the third-floor room a home along Montclair Avenue where he lived.
Investigators say he kept her under lock and key and occasionally locked her in a cramped storage space behind a wall. Investigators say two other women helped carry out the kidnapping.
Detectives also tell NBC10 that Kitchell shot the woman with a BB gun and threatened her with a loaded gun. He allegedly gave here heroin and tried to force her into prostitution.
On June 15, the woman found the key to the room's deadbolt lock and waited until Kitchell was gone to let herself out and flee, said police.
Investigators searched the home on June 17 and learned that Kitchell had gone to New Jersey. He was tracked down days later by the U.S. Marshals Service and Newark police.
