ZANESVILLE – In March 2023, a Zanesville man stole a Chevy Suburban and took off with it and two children in the back seat. He’ll send the next two decades behind bars for his actions.
On Oct. 27, Thomas Edward Pritchard Jr., 48, was handed 22 years in prison across two cases after previously pleading guilty Sept. 22 to three felonies: two counts of kidnapping, both first degree, and one grand theft of a motor vehicle, fourth degree.
A mother left the two children in the vehicle while dropping off another at dance class, explained the Muskingum County Prosecutor’s Office in an announcement.
She left the car running because of colder temperature, and when she returned, the car was gone.
Authorities issued an AMBER Alert and the Washington Police Department in Pennsylvania received a tip around four hours later. Washington police stopped the vehicle and found the two children unharmed in the back seat, the prosecutor’s office stated.
“During sentencing, Pritchard told the court he did not know the children were in the car. Pritchard claimed he planned on returning the children once he realized they were in the car but needed time to decide how he was going to do it,” the prosecutor’s office explained.
Pritchard had also pleaded guilty to two other counts in the second case: receiving stolen property, a fourth-degree felony, and OVI, a first-degree misdemeanor. This case, too, involved a stolen vehicle and it accounted for one year of Pritchard’s total sentence.
Pritchard was originally scheduled for trial in November 2024, but the court proceedings were prolonged after competency questions.
He was ruled incompetent in March 2025 and then received treatment at Appalachian Behavioral Healthcare in Athens. He was deemed competent in September 2025.
Pritchard was previously held in the Muskingum County Jail a $1 million bond.
This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Zanesville man sentenced after pleading guilty to kidnapping and theft of a motor vehicle
Reporting by Shawn Digity, Staff Reports / Zanesville Times Recorder
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