Lebanon summer resident found guilty in kidnap of Rochester woman

Thomas Minichiello is handcuffed and taken into custody after a jury convicted him of kidnapping. (WMUR image)

DOVER, N.H. - In the end the jury took the word of a vulnerable young Rochester mom over a prominent businessman from another state, handing down a guilty verdict that could land what appears to be a serial predator behind bars for up to seven years.

It took a predominately male jury just a little over an hour to find Thomas Minichiello, 63, of 285 Main St., Groveland, Mass., who also owns a summer home in Lebanon, Maine, guilty of kidnapping the victim, now 25 and living in Somersworth, and holding her against her will in his Dover motel room on Sept. 17, 2013.

In the defense's closing arguments Attorney Scott Gleason of Haverhill, Mass., pointed to two different versions the victim gave police of what happened in that third floor Comfort Inn motel room the afternoon and evening of Sept. 17.

In an initial police interview the night of the incident and a second interview with a Dover detective the next day, she never mentioned sexual touching, any direct or perceived threats or that she had been held against her will.

Defense Attorney Scott Gleason puts his arm around Thomas Minichielo as defense attorney Tom Gleason looks on Monday at Strafford County Superior Court. (Lebanon Voice photo)

However, in a three-hour interview about a month later, the young mother of three said she was afraid for her life when Minichiello locked the door behind her as they entered his motel room where the prosecution said she'd been lured in hopes of getting a job.

"If I didn't cooperate I knew he would hurt me," she said in the third, lengthier, interview on Oct. 16."

In that October interview, the victim also accused Minichiello of telling her to do what he said if she ever wanted to see her children again, placing syringes on a dresser top that she perceived as a threat and touching her vagina and breasts as he performed a series of heart rate and blood pressure tests. The tests, he said, were to see if she was compatible with a job selling exercise training for a company he was setting up called Patriot Strength that would be located in Rochester.

Minichiello admitted to using a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, and a thermometer to measure her endurance and strength as he had her jog in place and strike various poses while inside the motel room. During the poses he said he touched only her arms or legs in a nonsexual way, which she agreed with in the first two interviews, but then included the touching of breasts and genitals in the third.

Minichiello also had her pick things up with her feet to test her legs for dexterity and strength, he said in a recorded interview at Gleason's Haverhill law offices with Dover Patrick Kilbreth, the lead investigator in the case.

In the recorded interview the Dover detective pressed Minichiello on what at the very least appeared to be bizarre behaviors by the former insurance agency owner, who revealed much of his current life malaise resulted from the death of his daughter 11 years ago in a car accident.

"She was my everything," he said. "My life ended... soon after my marriage fell apart."

"Are you meeting these girls to fill a void?" Kilbreth then asks. "Is that fair to say?"

"Yes," Minichiello replies.

In closing arguments, however, Gleason maintained that the victim was a willing participant in what happened inside the motel room and was never held against her will. He also said his client never had syringes or made direct or indirect threats to the woman, who originally met Minichiello first at a downtown Rochester yard sale, then outside George and Ed's convenience store a few days later.

It was then that Minichiello made overtures to the woman about starting an exercise company in which he was looking for part timers to work for $9 and hour to start then going to $14 an hour after a probationary period.

The young woman, who was in dire financial straits, jumped at the chance, said her friend and confidant, Beverly Downing, whose husband is the pastor at the Advent Christian Church in Farmington.

Strafford County Deputy Attorney Alysia Cassotis called Minichiello "manipulative, cunning and devious" as under the pretense of a job interview he lured the vulnerable young woman to his motel room, where he played out his lurid fantasies by making her do things that "pushed the boundaries," as the young woman, herself, said in testimony.

In closing arguments, Gleason, however, told the jury "while you may not like what he did," in the victim's first two interviews with police she never mentioned threats, syringes or sexual touching. He added that neither did Downing who was present at the first interview at the Dover Police Station and said she prompted the young woman about 10 times on the salient points about the incident.

"But she never mentioned threats or syringes of sexual touching," he said, suggesting Downing may have had a memory problem and hadn't been told about the damning accusations until much later.

Gleason also suggested it was more of a sexual tryst than a kidnapping as he said Minichiello had asked the young woman questions in the motel lobby prior to going up to the room including, "Do you like sex toys?" and "How's your sex life?"

After the trial Kassotis said the jury saw through the deception exhibited by Minichiello, who represented himself as Tom Kennedy to the victim.

"Placing responsibility on this young woman for trusting someone to maintain the representations he made in the first place ... I think the jury saw through that argument," she said. "I think it was clear Mr. Minichiello felt he had to deceive someone to engage in the actions that he attempted to or did engage in that night."

The young woman said Minichiello finally let her go after she said she had AIDS, after which he drove her home to her downtown Rochester apartment. Gleason said Minichiello had hoped to see the young woman again and had booked a room at the same motel for four days later, but the woman later broke off the engagement.

After the verdict Minichiello was taken directly into custody and given a $10,000 cash bail. If he raises the money he'll have to wear a GPS monitor to track his whereabouts.

Strafford County Superior Court Judge Brian Tucker said sentencing would be likely next month after a presentencing report is prepared.

This wasn't the first time the former insurance agent was arrested after such an accusation.

Minichiello was arrested in April 2008, in Marlborough, Mass.

According to court records in that case, a woman said Minichiello lured her to the Courtyard Marriott on the pretense of getting a job with his fitness company. Court papers said the woman and Minichiello met on the Internet and arranged the meeting over the phone.
Minichiello was alleged to have touched the woman inappropriately several times and beat and dragged her back to his hotel room after she tried to flee. The second time she fled the room, the woman escaped, running naked to the front desk to seek help, police said.
In June 2008 prosecutors apparently dropped the case and he was later called in on just misdemeanor charges, which were later continued without a finding.