A Colorado man was found guilty by federal jurors of kidnapping a lady from Michael Bloomberg’s ranch in what the prosecution claimed was an attempt on the media mogul’s life.
Joseph Beecher, 51, was found guilty in Cheyenne on Wednesday of kidnapping, carjacking, and possessing a pistol. He now faces a sentence of seven years to life
in prison. The jury deliberated for an hour and a half during the two days of the trialThe woman who had been abducted, a housekeeper at the ranch in western Colorado, was found safe the next morning. About 200 miles (320 kilometers) northeast of the Bloomberg property, in Cheyenne, authorities discovered her and Beecher in a motel room.
In February 2022, following Beecher’s termination from his position as a hotel handyman in Craig, Colorado, the kidnapping took place. Court filings state that he was told to leave after working there in exchange for accommodation.
About 70 miles (113 kilometers) from Craig, Beecher drove his pickup truck past the gate of the former mayor of New York City’s ranch in search of Bloomberg and his family, according to court filings.
For $44.8 million, Bloomberg had purchased the ranch in 2020. The Bloomberg family was not there when the victim was taken hostage.
Beecher was unknown to the woman who was kidnapped and forced into marriage. It was not apparent why he was looking for Bloomberg. But in a statement released on Thursday, authorities claimed that Beecher had “intent on killing Bloomberg.”
The supervising housekeeper at the ranch was identified as the woman, whose name was withheld from federal court filings. She said to police that she heard a man ask her name while she was in a bedroom upstairs. She added that as she turned, Beecher was aiming a black “machine gun” at her.
Beecher at the time was a suspect in a burglary earlier in the day in which he stole two rifles, including an AR-15 and ammunition, from his employer’s living quarters at the hotel, according to officials.
He left his truck at Bloomberg’s ranch and ordered the woman to drive them in her husband’s pickup truck to the Denver area and then to Cheyenne, where they stopped and he told her to get a room at the motel, according to court documents.
Examining security footage, investigators followed the woman’s iPad back to the motel, where they spotted the pickup truck.
Once motel employees informed authorities the room they were in, a SWAT team invaded the room, releasing the woman and taking Beecher into custody.
