Joshua Aaron PattersonEast Ridge police arrested a Rossville, Ga., man after they said he offered to pay his wife $400 to kill his ex-girlfriend's juvenile son.
On May 23, at about 3:30 p.m., East Ridge police responded when a caller reported that a young girl was missing from Georgia and was at a residence on Prater Road.
Once they arrived, officers found the girl and her mother, Buffy Patterson, who told police that her husband, Joshua Aaron Patterson, 37, had made a false report because he was angry.
Officers also spoke with Teresa Padilla, Joshua Patterson's ex-girlfriend, who told police that Joshua Patterson was trying to get someone to hurt her son. According to the police report, Padilla said Patterson told her he would tie her son behind his truck and "drag him down the road like they used to do to the [racial epithet deleted] back in the day."
Buffy Patterson told police that about a half-hour earlier, Joshua Patterson had offered her $400 to "get that [racial epithet deleted] and put him in a hole," referring to Padilla's son.
Padilla told officers that she was Joshua Patterson's girlfriend until he tried to pay to have her son killed.
Padilla and Buffy Patterson both told police that Joshua Patterson thinks his daughter and Padilla's son are having a relationship and he doesn't approve.
According to Catoosa County Sheriff's Office records, Joshua Patterson was arrested on a charge of making false statements related to the fraudulent report of a missing juvenile. Police said they received a tip and found him at another residence.
Once Patterson was at the Catoosa County Jail, East Ridge authorities charged him with solicitation to commit murder, a Class B felony.
Patterson has been booked into the Hamilton County Jail on a $100,000 bond, and is scheduled to appear in East Ridge City Court on June 10.
Contact staff writer Alex Harris at aharris@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6592.