Source: United States Department of Justice Criminal Division
BILLINGS – A Billings man accused of kidnapping admitted to charges today, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.
The defendant, Joshua Lawrence Wellington, 34, pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping. Wellington faces a maximum potential term of life imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and 5 years of supervised release.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy J. Cavan presided. U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. Sentencing will be set for a later date. Wellington was detained pending further proceedings.
The government alleged in court documents that in June 2024, Wellington and Jane Doe were in a dating relationship. Wellington was absconding from Montana Probation & Parole and staying in Miles City. Doe visited Wellington in Miles City on three occasions. Wellington used methamphetamine during those visits. During the final visit, on June 29, 2024, Doe and Wellington got a hotel room. Wellington became aggressive and angry during sex with Doe, threatened to hit her over the head with a liquor bottle, then strangled her until she began to pass out. Doe begged him to stop, and he hit her over the head with the liquor bottle.
Wellington told Doe that Doe had “gone too far,” and they were going to leave Miles City and Montana. Wellington forced Doe into her car and took her cell phone. As soon as Wellington got onto the highway, he began to beat Doe. He hit her with his right hand while he drove with his left. He pulled the rearview mirror and a sun visor off Doe’s car and beat her with those items, stabbed her with a pen, threatened to beat her progressively worse if she did not comply with him, and told her to write a letter to her son telling him good-bye. Doe was terrified and did not feel she could willingly leave.
This continued for several hours until Wellington needed to stop for gas in Lemmon, South Dakota. Wellington placed Doe on the floorboard of the passenger seat and covered her with a blanket. Wellington told Doe not to do anything stupid and stated that if he got caught, he would kill her when he got out of custody. Doe ran out of the car and yelled for help in the parking lot and the gas station. Wellington was ultimately arrested after a high-speed pursuit. Wellington admitted that he hit Doe “quite a bit.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case. The FBI conducted the investigation.
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