Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy is charged in 2014 cattle-graze standoff as he heads to Oregon protest
After Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and militia supporters prevailed in an armed 2014 standoff concerning cattle trespassing on federal land, the government wasn’t in any hurry to bring criminal charges.
However, when Bundy traveled this week to Portland, Oregon, in a reported plan to support two of his sons after their takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, he never made it to his destination. The 69-year-old was arrested late Wednesday at Portland International Airport. A six-count federal criminal complaint concerning the 2014 incident was filed Thursday in Nevada, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Oregonian.
A hearing will be held next week on whether Bundy should be granted pretrial release.
He faces felony charges including conspiracy, obstruction of justice, extortion and assault on a federal law enforcement officer, concerning his claimed role as “the leader, organizer and chief beneficiary of the conspiracy” in 2014, reports the Review-Journal.
The complaint says Bundy has “trespassed his cattle” on federal grazing land for 20 years, refusing to pay fees and racking up a bill of $1 million in fees and penalties, the articles explain. In April 2014, as federal agents impounded Bundy cattle found on government land, he and armed militia supporters confronted them. Concerned about potential bloodshed, the outnumbered feds backed off.
Bundy left a message for a Review-Journal reporter when he departed for Portland, saying that he intended to try to help support four individuals who were then remaining at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns. “FBI has supposedly surrounded those people. … I’m headed there to see if I can save a life, I guess,” he said in the voicemail.
In Oregon, two of Bundy’s sons, Ammon and Ryan, face charges relating to the Jan. 2 takeover of the refuge. It was done in protest of five-year federal arson sentences imposed on father-and-son local ranchers, Dwight and Steven Hammond. However, the Hammonds have distanced themselves from the protest, saying through their attorneys that they respect the rule of law.
It was nearly a month before the Oregon protest came to a head, with the roadblock arrest of eight people including Ammon and Ryan Bundy. Ryan Bundy was shot during the incident and suffered minor injuries. Also during the arrest, Oregon state troopers fatally shot Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, who had served as a spokesman for the group. At least 23 people have been indicted in connection with the takeover, the Oregonian reported Thursday. Both Bundys are among those indicted.
The last four occupiers of the refuge surrendered peacefully on Thursday, the Oregonian reports.
Although a lawyer for Cliven Bundy and a Bundy family member are quoted in the news articles about his case, neither spoke specifically concerning the charges against him.
At Bundy Ranch, his daughter-in-law Briana Bundy told the Review-Journal that the family will continue to battle the feds’ attempt to force their cattle from public land on the Gold Butte range.
“We’re going to continue to run this ranch,” she said. “We’re going to continue to raise our babies, feed our cows and enjoy our faith and our freedoms. And we’re going to continue to fight for those that we still have left.”
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “After stalemate between rancher, armed militia and feds, Nevada prosecutor not rushing to bring case”
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “9th Circuit blasts judge who ruled for rancher, boots him from grazing-rights case”
