A man and his adult son have been charged with kidnapping two federal biologists at gunpoint in a Northern California forest last week, leading to an hourslong standoff with law enforcement.Subscribe to read this story ad-freeGet unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.
Joseph Charles Henrichsen, 49, and Phoenix Henrichsen, 23, appeared in federal court in Sacramento on Monday but did not enter pleas to charges of kidnapping a federal employee and aiding and abetting.An affidavit filed in support of the charges alleges that on Thursday morning, Joseph Henrichsen approached two U.S.
Forest Service staff biologists who were on the job near Gumboot Lake Campground in Shasta-Trinity National Forest.The pair, who have not been identified, were conducting research for a study on frog habitats.
Joseph, carrying an AR-15-style rifle, went up to them in a remote section of forest about 290 miles north of San Francisco and zip-tied their hands behind their backs, the affidavit says.He then ordered them to a nearby trailer, where Phoenix joined them, according to the document.The two were mostly held there, though Joseph is alleged to have put one, described only as a woman, in the Forest Service Nissan the biologists were originally riding in and driven her several miles away, using her phone to make several calls and leaving a message for a federal forest ranger.“I’ve taken two fed biologists hostage from the Forest Service,” Joseph said in the message, the affidavit alleges.
“I’m driving in the ranger vehicle right now.”“Her hands are behind her f---ing back, and I’ve got live rounds ready,” Joseph continued, the court documents allege, before he asked for a federal investigator, preferably from the FBI, to “talk things through a little bit.”They then returned to the trailer, where the victims were held for hours at gunpoint, according to the affidavit, which alleges that at one point during negotiations with law enforcement, Jos...