A 66-year-old man who lives in the Angeles National Forest has been charged with threatening five hikers while swinging a sledgehammer and with blocking a sixth who was trying to get back to her car.
Patrick Michael Flinn pleaded not guilty to five felony counts of making criminal threats and one felony count of false imprisonment by violence on Wednesday, May 21, at West Covina Superior Court, court records show.
A group of three men and two women encountered Flinn on Jan. 12 in the forest, sheriff’s Detective Lisa Ondatje said.
The suspect, swinging a sledgehammer and hitting trees, told them to get off of his property, she said.
On May 16, at Dry Lake Canyon, a couple of miles south of Mt. Baldy, a 32-year-old hiker was trying to get back to her vehicle when Flinn is accused of allegedly blocking her way.
“She tried to get through three times,” Ondatje said.
At one point, Flinn jumped up and threw sticks toward the hiker.
She tripped and Flinn stood over her with a big branch held over his head, Ondatje said.
Two other hikers appeared, the detective said, and one distracted Flinn so the woman could ran away.
Deputies arrested Flinn that afternoon on suspicion of false imprisonment and resisting an officer after he kicked a deputy in the groin area, Ondatje said.
Flinn, who used to have a P.O. Box in Upland, lives in what she described as a shack in the forest.
“We were told there were postings out there warning people he was violent,” Ondatje said. “He is known to carry knives.”
When deputies went to arrest him, he had a knife on him, she said. He also climbed a tree. He agreed to come down and put his knife in his home, she added.
Flinn was being held Thursday, May 22, at Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles in lieu of $295,000 bail.
Authorities asked anyone with information about the case to call the sheriff’s San Dimas Station at 909-450-2700.