San Diego : San Diego

A judge Monday rejected a prosecutor’s request that cult deprogrammer Ted Patrick be jailed pending a hearing on allegations that he violated his probation by accepting money for a deprogramming.

Superior Court Judge Barbara Gamer allowed Patrick to remain free on the condition that he do no deprogramming, not associate with groups that do, not leave the county and submit to a search at any time.

A probation revocation hearing date was set for 10 a.m. May 24. Deputy Dist. Atty. Harry Elias told Gamer that Patrick could receive a seven-year state prison term.

Patrick was convicted in 1980 of kidnaping and was placed on five years’ probation, which was due to end in September. His probation was revoked in 1982, after it was discovered that he accepted several thousand dollars to deprogram a lesbian from her life style, and he was sentenced to serve one year in jail.

The recent allegations involve a claim by a woman who says she paid Patrick several thousand dollars to deprogram her daughter from a cult but later changed her mind. Patrick gave her back only $800, she claimed.

Patrick is under strict orders not to perform any deprogramming or accept money for it, under probation conditions laid down by Judge Norbert Ehrenfreund.

Patrick wouldn’t comment to reporters after the hearing. His attorney, Tom Gayton, disputed the recent allegations.