The 29-year-old Riverton man who stole a car with a baby inside on the night of this year’s NFL Super Bowl has pleaded guilty to one count of felony kidnapping.
If Fremont County District Court Judge Jason Conder accepts Patrick Dushane Brown’s Friday plea agreement, he could face eight to ten years in prison or be recommended for a youthful offender “boot camp” program.
His sentencing hearing is scheduled for September 4.
Micah Wyatt, Fremont County Attorney, stated that his office is “just pleased he took responsibility for this grievous thing he did.”
‘My baby!’
On the night of February 9, the Riverton Police Department issued an alert stating that a Ford Escape with a baby inside had been stolen.
Law enforcement officers discovered the stolen vehicle west of Riverton around 8:40 p.m., with the baby inside but no driver.
Later in the investigation, police discovered that a woman was unloading items from her vehicle on College View Drive when it was stolen, with the baby still inside, according to the case affidavit and scanner traffic.
The thief fled on foot, leaving the vehicle and the baby on a rural road west of Riverton.
Cowboy State Daily observed a woman with dark hair arrive near Blue Spruce Lane and Riverview Road, where a large number of sheriff’s deputies and other law enforcement had gathered, shouting, “My baby!” “My baby!”
She took a crying baby wrapped in a blanket into her arms and walked toward an ambulance that had arrived at the scene around the same time to have the baby’s condition checked.
Didn’t Know Baby Was There
Police apprehended Brown after a five-week investigation.
According to the case affidavit, Brown told someone that he didn’t know the baby was in the vehicle when he took it.
Brown allegedly told someone — whose account is included in the affidavit — that he heard a baby breathing, reached back to feel, and found the baby there.
The temperature was 19 degrees that night.
Plea Agreement Says
In the plea deal, Brown agreed to plead guilty to one count of felony kidnapping. The charge is a lesser version of the more serious one he originally faced, punishable by 20 years to life in prison.
Instead, this version carries up to 20 years in prison.
If Conder accepts the plea agreement, he will sentence Brown to eight to ten years in prison and recommend that he be placed in the youthful offender, or boot camp, program instead of prison.
Offenders sent to boot camp typically petition to have their sentences reduced after completing the program, which takes months rather than years.
If the judge deems it appropriate, he may reduce the sentence accordingly.
Brown’s public defender, Valerie Schoneberger, and the case prosecutor, Fremont County Chief Deputy Attorney Tim Hancock, also signed the plea agreement.
