Two employees of a northern California flight school have been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping a student pilot and trying to send him back to China, authorities said.
Jonathan McConkey, general manager at IASCO Flight Training, and his assistant, Kelsi Hoser, were taken into custody on Friday at the municipal airport in Redding, police said.
Tianshu Shi, a trainee in the US on a student visa, sustained minor injuries during the alleged kidnapping, investigators said.
McConkey and Hoser showed up at Shi’s apartment the evening of 24 May and told him he was going to be “shipped back” to China the following morning, said corporal Rob Peterson of Redding police. The next day the pair returned to Shi’s apartment and told him to pack his bags.
Shi told the Record Searchlight newspaper he recorded the confrontation. The profanity-filled audio clip was obtained by the newspaper. “I’ve got your [expletive] passport. You’re leaving now,” a male voice says in the recording. He later adds, “The United States government needs you out of this country right now, you understand?”
“You are here illegal, you know that,” a female voice says later. “If you don’t go with us, you go to jail.”
For more read the full of article at The Guardian
