Colorado man sentenced for kidnapping woman from ranch owned by Michael Bloomberg

A northwestern Colorado man was sentenced Thursday to 22 years behind bars after an argument triggered a burglary, armed kidnapping, and hostage rescue hours later in another state.

The ruling closed the books on a strange, dangerous incident at the ranch recently purchased by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Joseph Beecher, now 51, lived and worked at apartment building in Craig. On the morning of Feb 2, 2022, Beecher's employer terminated Beecher.  

Beecher, according to case documents, left their argument and burglarized his employer's private residence. Two rifles, one of them a Bushmaster AR-style rifle, were part of his haul. 

Beecher then drove nearly 50 miles away to the Bloomberg ranch outside Meeker. Bloomberg purchased the more than 4,000 acre property called Westlands for more than $44 million two years earlier. The ranch, called "Westlands," includes a 19,000-square-foot home with five bedrooms, a library, wine cellar, theater, and wet bar. Outdoors, it features an outdoor pool, private golf course, helipad, guest cabins, employee housing and a private two-mile stretch of the White River.  

Beecher, according to federal prosecutors, drove to the ranch intending to find and kill Bloomberg.

But once there, he only found a housekeeper.

Beecher rammed the ranch's front gate with his Mazda pickup, drove onto the property, and walked into the home. He snuck up on the housekeeper in one of the upstairs bedrooms. The woman later told investigators she turned around to see a man pointing what she called a machine gun at her face. The man threatened to "shoot her f***ing face off," she recounted.

Beecher took the woman hostage and left the ranch with her in her husband's pickup. 

A state-wide alert was issued in Colorado within hours. 

Beecher forced the woman at gunpoint to drive to various locations, including Denver. He wanted to "kill another media mogul in Colorado," according to federal prosecutors. 

He did not find one. 

Instead, Beecher forced the woman to drive north to Cheyenne where, in the late afternoon, they checked into a hotel.

Before midnight, Cheyenne Police Department officers were alerted to the stolen pickup in the hotel's parking lot. After confirming Beecher's image on the hotel's surveillance video, a SWAT team was formed and the hotel surrounded.

Remarkably, at 2:30 a.m., a fire started in a different hotel room. As Cheyenne officers rescued a man from that room, the SWAT team moved on Beecher's room, kicked in the door, and took Beecher into custody. The AR-styled rifle was in the room, too.

The kidnapped woman later told investigators Beecher made her lie in the same bed with him, her head on his chest. 

During court proceedings, Beecher underwent mental health evaluation and in April was deemed competent to stand trial. 

He shunned his right to an attorney and chose to represent himself. He was convicted in August.

Thursday, a federal judge in Wyoming gave Beecher 15 years each for kidnapping, carjacking and transporting stolen firearms. The sentences on those counts will be served concurrently, or simultaneously. Beecher received an additional seven years for using a gun while committing a violent crime.

Beecher was also ordered to surrender three firearms, pay more than $5,000 for damage he caused, and submit to five years of supervised probation upon his release from prison.