The Region - News from May 27, 1985

Cult deprogrammer Ted Patrick’s probation revocation hearing was postponed while prosecutors filed cocaine possession charges against him. Probation for Patrick, who served a year in jail on his 1980 conviction in the deprogramming kidnaping of waitress Roberta McElfish, had been scheduled to end later this year, but the San Diego County district attorney’s office has moved to send him back to prison to serve his entire seven-year term after a Texas woman said he had accepted money from her to retrieve her daughter from a religious organization. Such activity was forbidden under terms of probation. A search of Patrick’s apartment turned up videotapes purportedly showing recent deprogramming activity on his part--and a small amount of cocaine. Patrick remained free pending arraignment on the cocaine charge.