• BJ LEWIS - Victoria Advocate
• Originally published July 1, 2008 at 12:19 a.m., updated July 1, 2008 at 12:19 a.m.

LA GRANGE – Talk about a busy day.

After escaping Sunday from the Fayette County Jail, Patrick Scott Bigelow proceeded to kidnap a man and rob two more banks before being caught Monday afternoon in Houston.

Bigelow, 44, of Katy, had been arrested earlier this year in connection with several bank robberies that were nicknamed the “Santa Claus Robberies” because of the disguises he wore while committing these crimes.

He was in jail awaiting trial for robbing a bank in Fayette County and six others from area counties when he escaped, said Lt. David Beyer with the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department.

“He just added an escape charge, aggravated kidnapping and two more bank robberies. He will be facing some serious time now,” he said.

About 11 a.m. Sunday, Bigelow overpowered a woman guard at the jail, taking keys to an outside door. Once Bigelow sprang himself from jail, he made his away across the street to a car where his mother waited, Beyer said.

Dogs from the Texas Department of Corrections and a Department of Public Safety helicopter were used in the search for Bigelow. But after close to eight hours of searching, he was not located, Beyer said.

The Santa Claus Robber was on the move, though.

He’s accused of carjacking a man in Waller early Monday morning and taking his mid-1980s white Suburban, according to a College Station police news release.

Bigelow dropped the man off unharmed in Hempstead before making his way to College Station.

Bigelow is accused of then robbing two Citibank locations in College Station, one on Harvey Road and another on University Drive, said Rhonda Seaton, master officer with the College Station police department.

“The first one, he went in and told them it was a robbery and demanded money,” she said. “It was a very small location, and no customers were in the bank.”

From there, the robber went to the University Drive location. Seaton said the man was quiet, almost whispering to the teller when making his demands for money. The teller handed him the case while trying to reach for the alarm button. But he knocked her hand away and warned her that he had a gun and would shoot her, Seaton said.

With cash in hand, the robber fled through the main door of the bank.

The white Suburban was located by Bryan police in the Blinn College parking lot at 11:05 a.m. Evidence from the robberies was recovered in the vehicle, according to the release.

The DPS, FBI, Bryan Police and Blinn College Police aided in the investigation and tracked Bigelow to a hotel in Houston, where he was arrested.

Beyer said Bigelow’s crime spree showed criminals are unpredictable.

“They may decide they are glad to be out and try to blend in. This guy obviously didn’t,” he said.

Charges of permitting or facilitating an escape from a penal institution are pending for Bigelow mother, who is thought to be in Katy, Beyer said.

The escape was the first Beyer has dealt with during his time at the sheriff’s department. The jail administrator has addressed the situation and changed some procedures, he said.

“We’re not going to accept blame or fault for the incident. He put our female correction officer in that position, it was a planned escape,” he said. “You deal with the possibility of escape on a daily basis. This guy was a high-risk inmate and handled as such, but he planned the escape and the escape worked.”

At least for a day.

Bj Lewis is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact him at 361-580-6535 or bjlewis@vicad.com or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.

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