Plumas County sheriff’s deputies arrested a suspect June 6 on multiple felony charges after an all-day chase along back roads in an incident that posed enough potential public danger to place residents in the Butterfly and Blackhawk areas on an advisory to shelter in place.
Christopher Hale, 42, became a suspect June 5 after sheriff’s officials received a report from a citizen regarding criminal “terrorist threats” from Hale, said Carson Wingfield, patrol commander with Plumas County Sheriff’s Office. Hale had threatened via text message and phone conversations that he intended to locate the victim and/or the victim’s family and “cause them harm,” the sheriff’s office reported in a press release. It also reported that the victim said that Hale stated he would “cause harm to any law enforcement officers who attempted to contact him.”
The victim advised sheriff’s officers that Hale was frequently armed with at least one handgun, according to the press release.
“The reports were credible,” Wingfield told The Plumas Sun. The sheriff’s office has had contact with Hale in the past, he said.
Armed with information that Hale was en route to Plumas County June 6, sheriff’s deputies were on the lookout and prepared to stop him. They spotted him in a vehicle eastbound on State Route 70 near the west intersection with Chandler Road.
When sheriff’s patrol units followed Hale’s vehicle in an attempt to pull him over, Hale turned abruptly on Blackhawk Road, “took off, and the chase was on,” Wingfield said.
Law enforcement agents from the U.S. Forest Service, California Highway Patrol and California Department of Fish and Wildlife joined sheriff’s deputies using patrol cars and a helicopter. They pursued Hale’s vehicle as it fled into increasingly remote mountainous regions, ultimately locating him in his vehicle near residences in the Butterfly Valley area.
“Hale bailed out, fled on foot and a foot chase ensued,” Wingfield said.
After an extensive search, Hale was eventually located and taken into custody around 6 p.m. He is being held in the Plumas County jail on suspicion of terrorist threats, evading law enforcement officials in a vehicle, and resisting arrest.
The entire incident occupied law enforcement agents for more than 11 hours June 6, Wingfield said.
