Two US flight school employees charged with kidnapping in Chinese student case

LOS ANGELES - Two employees with the IASCO Flight School in the US state of California have been charged with kidnapping and other felons in a case that allegedly involved kidnapping of a Chinese student pilot.

According to criminal charges filed by Shasta County prosecutors Thursday, 48-year-old Jonathan McConkey and his assistant, Kelsi Hoser, 50, were charged with kidnapping, first-degree residential burglary and false imprisonment by violence charges.

McConkey is also individually charged with making criminal threats, while Hoser is separately charged with preventing or dissuading a witness or victim from reporting a crime.

The pair, who are out of jail on 100,000 US dollars bail each, quickly left the courtroom Friday after their arraignment. They are not due back in court until Aug. 10, and a preliminary hearing date is also likely to be set at that time.

The two defendants were both arrested and booked for conspiracy and kidnapping last month after they allegedly kidnapped Tianshu Shi or Chris Shi, and tried to send him back to China, according to the Redding Police Department.

During an exclusive interview after the incident with the Record Searchlight, a local newspaper serving Redding, 21-year-old Shi produced an 3-minute audio recording he said he made when McConkey and Hoser showed up at his home and threatened physical violence if he did not go with them.

However, the lawyers for McConkey and Hoser said Friday their clients deny the accusations and intend to prove their innocence.

"There's a lot more to this case than a 3-minute undercover audio that Chris made," John Runfola, who represents McConkey, said in a video clips posted online Friday by the Record Searchlight. "I think that everyone is going to have a different opinion (about what happened) once the full content comes out for the public to review."

"The charges filed against our clients are just one side of the story," Runfola's defense attorney colleague, Naomi Chung, added.