WORCESTER — The Worcester man charged with throwing a 7-year-old girl off a Lake Quinsigamond bridge on Aug. 27 has been indicted on attempted murder, kidnapping and strangulation charges, according to Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.
A grand jury handed up the indictments today, charging Joshua Hubert, 36, of 3 Bernice St. with two counts of attempted murder and single counts of kidnapping a child under 16 and strangulation or suffocation.
He will be arraigned Monday in Worcester Superior Court. Hubert is being held on $2 million bail after being arraigned on kidnapping and attempted murder charges in district court.
Early said that Hubert was a friend of members of the victim’s family and was at a cookout with them on Aug. 26. He allegedly put the girl in his car in the early hours of Aug. 27, strangled her and threw her off the I-290 bridge over Lake Quinsigamond.
The girl survived the fall, swam to shore and sought help at a nearby home on the Shrewsbury side of the lake. That set off an investigation by Shrewsbury and Worcester Police as well as the State Police Detectives assigned to the District Attorney’s Office. The girl suffered visible, but not life-threatening, injuries.
Police say that the girl’s father and Hubert are life-long friends, having known each other since fourth grade.
Hubert denies the charges.
“We have evidence in the form of surveillance video of him at approximately 3:30 in the morning. We have an eyewitness that places him on a bridge, on the 290 bridge eastbound, shortly after that,” Assistant District Attorney Cheryl Riddle told the judge.
