CNA Staff, Sep 3, 2025 / 11:00 am

Authorities in California arrested a man who brought a cache of weapons, including gun paraphernalia, to a remote California abbey late last month.

Sheriff’s deputies arrested 38-year-old Joshua Michael Richardson after he allegedly made criminal threats against St. Michael’s Abbey, located in Silverado, about 40 miles southeast of Los Angeles in the Santa Ana Mountains.

Richardson, an Alabama resident, originally sent the abbey “emails that were interpreted as threatening,” the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said in a Sept. 2 press release .

The suspect subsequently “visited the church in person and made additional threats,” after which a priest reported the incident to the sheriff’s department.

Authorities quickly located and arrested Richards

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