Attorney’s Office releases additional information about alleged kidnapping of Forest Service employees
An incident in Siskiyou County where two Forest Service employees were allegedly held hostage at Gumboot Lake has garnered national attention since it was publicized last Friday. While many details still remain unclear, more information is being revealed.
Following the alleged kidnapping of two U.S. Forest Service employees last Thursday, additional information has been released regarding the details of the incident.
Last Friday, officials held a press conference at the Shasta Lake Ranger Station where they reported that two Forest Service employees had been taken hostage for over 15 hours at Gumboot Lake in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. An armed man had zip tied the two employees and held them at gunpoint inside a trailer, Siskiyou County Sheriff Jeremiah LaRue said.
The hostage-taking led to a long standoff, LaRue said, adding that the two employees were released safely after hours of negotiation by local and federal law enforcement agencies including the FBI.
In a press release today, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California announced publicly that the agency had charged Joseph Charles Henrichsen, 49, and Phoenix Henrichsen, 23, for the kidnapping of federal employees. FBI Sacramento also issued an update citing the press release.
The Attorney’s Office’s statement included additional information about the alleged kidnapping, saying that Joseph Henrichsen had used one of the victim’s phones to notify law enforcement officials that he had “taken two fed [employees] hostage from the Forest Service,” and threatened by phone that he had “live rounds ready to [expletive] anyone who [expletives] with me.”
The Sacramento Bee reported that the two Forest Service employees, who remain unnamed to protect their privacy, were biologists both identified by female pronouns, according to an affidavit filed at the Sacramento federal court. That document also said that Joseph Henrichsen had driven around each of the two scientists while carrying a rifle, and made numerous calls to law enforcement agencies, the article reported.
No information about potential motives has been publicly released.
The two suspects are currently in custody, and face a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. They made their first appearance in court today, according to the Sacramento Bee, where the judge set a preliminary hearing date of August 3.
Moe Shimizu is a student at Yale University. She’s reporting for Shasta Scout as a 2026 summer intern, with support from the Nonprofit Newsroom Internship Program — created by The Scripps Howard Fund and the Institute for Nonprofit News.
Do you have a correction to share? Email us: editor@shastascout.org.
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They were/are WOMEN.
Puts a whole level of different on this story~
The whole ‘man or bear’ in the woods thing come to life~
I’m a male who generally doesn’t have the same risks as women when encountering other men in the woods (the movie “Deliverance” notwithstanding). Even so, I’ve never had a bear point a gun at me from three feet away. In my profession (same as these two women), it’s happened to me twice—once on a wildlife refuge in Montana, and once under a bridge in rural California. In the Montana incident, Goober and Gomer wanted some of my gear, so I gave it to them and they left. I quickly packed up the rest of my stuff and hit the road. In the California case, I thought the old, drunk-ass rage-a-holic was going to shoot me for sure.
.
I’ll take the bear every time.
We don’t know that. All we know is that they were “identified by female pronouns”, a rather odd phrase. Maybe they were transsexuals and that offended these guys. Or maybe their sex is irrelevant and there was a completely different reason, like to protest the proposed data center or some forest service policy. Or it could have been the biologists stumbled across a dope farm or some other illegal activity.
The story says no information about motive has been released. This implies that the authorities have some idea why they did it but don’t want to say right away. That plus the fact that the hostage takers notified the FBI suggests a politically charged motive.