Ex-Charger Tied to Kidnap of Wife Is Held

A former professional football player who claimed he was trying to rescue his wife from what has been described as an unconventional church ministry has been arrested on suspicion of kidnaping, San Diego police said.

Irvin Phillips, 28, who played for the San Diego Chargers and Los Angeles Raiders, is suspected of abducting his wife, Helen, 26, of Rancho Penasquitos, said Dave Cohen, a San Diego police spokesman.

Irvin Phillips, who was arrested Tuesday, is also being held on suspicion of violating a temporary restraining order obtained by his wife as a result of marital problems, Cohen said. He is being held in lieu of $10,500 bail in County Jail.

Irvin Phillips told authorities he abducted his wife from a Rancho Penasquitos supermarket parking lot last Thursday to have her treated by Ted Patrick, who has been a cult deprogrammer, police said.

Wife Calls It a Rescue

At a press conference organized by Patrick on Tuesday, Helen Phillips said she had been rescued by her husband and freed from the influence of the San Diego Church of Christ.

Patrick, who gained a national reputation in the early 1970s for his techniques in helping people break ties with unconventional religious organizations, said Helen Phillips told him the church monitored her daily activities and questioned her about her sexual activities.

She declined to comment Wednesday, but her father, James F. Hackley, 52, of San Diego said, “She told me that the church misled her and said Mr. Patrick helped her see things differently.”

Church officials, who meet regularly at the El Cortez Hotel, could not be reached Wednesday.

“Although Mrs. Phillips said she had been rescued (by her husband), there was no question that an abduction had occurred,” Cohen said. “That is my understanding for the basis of the arrest.”

Witnesses in the parking lot called police.

Deprogrammer Convicted

Cohen said the district attorney’s office will determine whether to file charges against Phillips.

Patrick was convicted in 1980 on a kidnaping charge stemming from the deprogramming of a Tucson waitress who was a member of a cult. He spent a year in jail and was placed on five years’ probation. A condition of the probation, which expired in 1985, was that he refrain from deprogramming activities.

Phillips family members have said that Patrick was not involved in the woman’s abduction and that he was approached voluntarily by Helen Phillips. Authorities said they are not investigating Patrick’s involvement.