San Diego : It’s Back to Jail for Ted Patrick

Convicted cult deprogrammer Ted Patrick, only two months from receiving unconditional freedom from his probation, was ordered back to jail Monday for violating his probation terms.

The 54-year-old Patrick was scheduled to be freed from five years’ probation in September. But a search of his Chula Vista apartment in May found videotapes showing deprogramming activity, and a Texas woman testified that she hired Patrick to remove her daughter from a religious organization.

“The facts are sufficient to justify revocation,” Superior Court Judge Norbert Ehrenfreund said Monday. “We find that he failed to refrain from engaging in any form of deprogramming. He did plan deprogramming activity.”

During the three-day hearing that began Thursday, witnesses testified that Patrick, who was convicted of kidnaping a Tucson, Ariz., waitress in 1980 to deprogram her, had continued his activities despite a court order requiring him to refrain from deprogramming.

Patrick served one year in the San Diego County Jail after being sentenced to seven years in prison for the 1980 conviction.

Dolly Edwards of Lubbock, Tex., said she paid Patrick $3,900 to remove her 22-year-old daughter from a religious organization, but changed her mind when her daughter came home on her own. She said she asked for her money back from Patrick, but received only part of it.