Father, son charged in US Forest Service workers’ kidnapping

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A father and son were arrested on Monday in connection with the kidnapping of two U.S. Forest Service employees in Northern California’s Shasta-Trinity National Forest, resulting in a 15-hour standoff.

Joseph Charles Henrichsen, 49, and Phoenix Henrichsen, 23, were charged with kidnapping federal employees, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California said in a statement. Neither man entered a plea during a federal court appearance in Sacramento on Monday.

The Forest Service employees were conducting field work near Gumboot Lake Campground in a remote area of Siskiyou County before they were kidnapped, authorities said. The father and son allegedly abducted the workers at gunpoint, armed with an AR-15-style assault rifle, before they were bound and taken to a trailer and held there for 15 hours, according to the criminal complaint.

Joseph Henrichsen allegedly used a phone belonging to one of the workers to make a phone call, during which he said that he had “taken two fed biologists hostage from the Forest Service,” that one of the victims was “zip-tied” with their hands behind their backs and that he had “live rounds ready to [expletive] anyone who [expletives] with me.”

Local, state and federal law enforcement alongside the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team were able to negotiate with the Henrichsens to release the Forest Service employees and turn themselves in following the standoff.

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