A 55-year-old surgeon has been ordered to stand trial on charges of attempting to kidnap her 12-year-old son and kill a court-appointed observer during a custody visit in Goleta in December.
At the end of a preliminary hearing on Feb. 5, Superior Court Judge Michael Carrozzo ruled there was enough evidence to merit a trial for Dr. Theresa Lynn Colosi of San Jose.
An orthopedic surgeon who practices in the Bay Area, Colosi is accused of assaulting and seriously injuring the observer — Cindy Hann — during a court-ordered supervised visit with her son, who has not been named in court documents.
The alleged attack occurred Dec. 8 in the parking lot at Zodo’s Bowling & Beyond, 5925 Calle Real in Goleta.
The Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department alleges that Colosi began acting suspiciously while walking with her son, which caught Hann’s attention. Colosi then allegedly swung a metal compressed-gas canister at Hann, hitting her in the head several times.
Hann told the boy to run into Zodo’s for help, and Colosi began following him, but then ran to her vehicle and fled the area.
Detectives discovered that Colosi had chartered a private jet that took her from the Lompoc Airport to Glacier International Airport near Kalispell, Mont.
Colosi eventually was arrested in Montana by officers of the Whitefish Police Department and extradited back to Santa Barbara County on Dec. 19. She has been held without bail since then at the Santa Barbara County Jail.
Carrozzo ordered Colosi held to answer on charges of attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, attempted kidnapping of a child, attempted child stealing and disobeying a domestic-violence court order, according to Deputy District Attorney Wesley Meyer.
She also faces special allegations including causing great bodily harm and use of a deadly weapon.
No trial date has been set, Meyer said, adding that Colosi is scheduled to return to court on Feb. 24 for a readiness-and-settlement conference.
The preliminary hearing lasted less than two hours, Meyer said, and included only two witnesses: a sheriff’s detective who responded to the assault call and a deputy who interviewed the victim.
Colosi is being represented by Santa Barbara attorney Robert Sanger.
Details on Hann’s condition have not been released.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.