Forest Service workers taken hostage, held at gunpoint in remote NorCal trailer, feds say

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Set us as preferred Two U.S.Forest Service employees working in a remote area of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest were kidnapped, zip-tied and held inside a trailer for more than 17 hours before being rescued Friday morning, authorities said.The bizarre hostage crisis unfolded like a scene from a movie.

Law enforcement teams from across Northern California, and even as far away as Virginia, converged Thursday on the trailer at the end of a small one-lane road, where a father and son held the workers at gunpoint, according to FBI Sacramento acting Special Agent in Charge Brian Tosh.The father, identified as 49-year-old Joseph Charles Hendrickson, told authorities he was armed with an automatic rifle and grenades and wanted to talk to the FBI, according to Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue.The atmosphere was tense, as crisis negotiations continued until early Friday morning when the two employees were safely surrendered, and Hendrickson and his adult son, Phoenix, were taken into custody, LaRue said.They have both been charged with kidnapping federal employees, according to Eric Grant, U.S.attorney for the Eastern District of California.

The workers, deeply rattled but physically unharmed, have been returned to their families.Their names have not been released.“I want to say how profoundly grateful and relieved that we are that our two employees were released safely,” said Forest Service Chief Tom Schultz.

“We’re staying close to them and their loved ones, making sure they have the support and the space that they need after what they’ve been through.”The employees were completing routine field work near the picturesque waters of Gumboot Lake when things took a terrifying turn.At 8 a.m., the Forest Service received word that the two employees had been kidnapped, Schultz said.The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s O...