Two flight instructors have been arrested and booked on suspicion of attempting to kidnap a Chinese student to send him back to China , reports the Record Searchlight.
Police say it happened at IASCO Flight Training program in Redding, Calif.
Arrested were Jonathan McConkey and his assistant, Kelsi Hoser, however the Searchlight reports the two are not currently listed on the jail’s electronic custody roster.
According to Time, a former IASCO instructor sued,alleging the program’s Chinese students do not speak English well enough to safely fly. McConkey and Hoser may have been trying to handle the situation on their own, Time Magazine speculated.
Redding Police Cpl. Rob Peterson told the LA Times the suspects showed up at trainee’s Tianshu Shi apartment Thursday and told him to pack his bags because he was being shipped back to China.
On Friday, when the two showed up to take Shi to the airport, Shi recorded the confrontation which was obtained by the Searchlight.
“You’re going home, with or without your luggage,” a male voice is heard saying.
“If you cannot speak English, you are not going to be able to stay here,” the woman is heard saying.
You can hear the entire profanity-laced recording here.
In the recording the pair could be heard threatening to “forcibly remove” Shi and telling him the police would be coming to get him. At one point, Shi is told he is in the United States illegally. Shi arrived to the U.S. on an M-1 Visa.
Shi alerted him family back in China about what was happening. The family called police in Redding and the arrests were subsequently made.
Time reports the Civil Aviation Flight University of China paid IASCO 70,000 to train Shi, one of a number of Chinese national students enrolled in the program.
At least one other Chinese national student also reports someone from IASCO threatened to send him back to China.
Zhang Xun Yi, 24, told the Searchlight he was told he would be returned to China after allowing a friend into his home to use the bathroom.
Yi said the school ended up grounding him for three weeks. The school did not return the Searchlight’s call for comment.
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