A 32-year-old Santa Barbara man was arrested Wednesday on charges of kidnapping and beating his own mother.
Santa Barbara County sheriff’s Sgt. Alex Tipolt, a department spokesman, said 9-1-1 operators logged three morning calls: first by a woman who heard another woman screaming in the vicinity of Cheltenham Road, then by a male caller who hung up as a woman screamed in the background, and finally by the victim, who identified the assailant as her son. The sequence eventually led to the arrest of Gregory Patchett Jr.
Deputies located Patchett in Montecito later Wednesday, but as they attempted to stop his vehicle, he sped away, sparking a pursuit through Montecito and Summerland. The deputies quit the chase in the interest of public safety, but sheriff’s detectives found him at a home in the 2600 block of Tallant Road in Santa Barbara, where he was arrested without incident.
Patchett was charged with kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, dissuading a witness, disabling of a telephone line, violation of a protective order and evading. He is in the county jail on $1 million bail.