An alleged kidnapper was arrested Wednesday after his alleged victim, the man’s own mother, managed to escape and called authorities.
It took some time for the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department to track down 32-year-old Santa Barbara resident Gregory Patchett, Jr. But when they did find him in Montecito, he escaped in his vehicle, and was later found to be in a Santa Barbara home.
It all began this morning, June 11, when the sheriff’s dispatch center received a call from a resident who heard a woman screaming in the area of Cheltenham Road, near the intersection of Foothill and Mission Canyon roads. Authorities weren’t able to find the woman, but not long after, authorities received another 911 call; this time, a man had called but a woman could be heard screaming and yelling in the background. That call was terminated. A third call quickly followed, and the caller identified herself as a victim of a kidnapping, and said she had been severely beaten before escaping from her captor.
Sheriff’s deputies arrived to find the woman, who told them her attacker and kidnapper was her son. Deputies found Patchett driving in Montecito, according to Sgt. Alex Tipolt, and attempted to pull him over. Instead, he sped away, and a pursuit through Montecito and Summerland ensued. “Due to the high speeds and concentration of civilian traffic in the morning hours, in addition to the erratic and carelessness of safety by Patchett, the pursuit was terminated in the interest of public safety,” Tipolt said in a statement.
Not long after, Patchett was eventually located at a home in the 2600 block of Tallant Road, in the Samarkand neighborhood and not far from the Santa Barbara Municipal Golf Course. After Patchett barricaded himself in the home for a period of time, he was taken into custody without incident.
Patchett was arrested for kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, dissuading a witness, threats, disabling a telephone line, violation of a protective order and evading. He was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on $1 million bail.