Two Men Charged With Kidnapping U.S. Forest Service Employees After Fifteen-Hour Standoff
SACRAMENTO, Calif. / Monday, July 20, 2026 — Two Siskiyou County men were charged with kidnapping federal employees today, United States Attorney Eric Grant announced.
According to court documents, Joseph Charles Henrichsen, age 49, and Phoenix Henrichsen, age 23, kidnapped two field employees working for the U.S. Forest Service. The employees were conducting field work near Gumboot Lake Campground in Siskiyou County, when they were abducted at gunpoint, bound, and led to a remote trailer where Joseph and Phoenix held them for the next fifteen hours.
At one point, Joseph used one of the victim’s phones to place a call in which he brazenly stated that he had “taken two fed [employees] hostage from the Forest Service,” that one of the victims was “ziptied,” with [their] hands “behind [their] [expletive] back,” and that he had “live rounds ready to [expletive] anyone who [expletives] with me.”
This triggered a massive law enforcement response that drew in local, state, and federal resources from around the country. After a fifteen-hour standoff, negotiators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Hostage Rescue Team secured the release of both victims and the surrender of both suspects. Both suspects are in custody.
This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, with assistance from the U.S. Forest Service, Homeland Security Investigations, the Bureau of Land Management, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office, the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office, the Mt. Shasta Police Department, California Fish and Wildlife, and the California Highway Patrol. Assistant United States Attorney Charles Campbell is prosecuting the case.
If convicted, the defendants face a maximum statutory penalty of life in prison and a $250,000 fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables. The charges are only allegations; the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of California
