Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Man climbs tree, cops get him down

A 25-year-old Gurdon man held a bounty hunter at gunpoint on Tuesday, May 31, while the would-be prisoner took off out the back door.

City Marshal Don Childres said Gurdon police got involved because of the .22-caliber pistol.

Joshua Whaltey, 25, told Childres he was high on methamphetamine "and had been up for three or four days."

After evading the bounty hunter, Childres said Whaltey left the Josyln Street residence and headed for a tree behind Gurdon State Bank.

The marshal said Whaltey climbed up the tree and pointed the gun to his head, saying he would shoot himself.

"The gun was not loaded, but we did not know that at the time," Childres said. "He is lucky we did not shoot him. Whaltey threw the gun down and came out of the tree without incident.

"We took him into custody and then turned him over to the bounty hunters."

According to Childres, there were two bounty hunters at the back door and one at the front.

The reason the Nevada County bounty hunters came to Gurdon for Whaltey was he failed to appear in Circuit Court on a theft of property charge, Childres said.