Ammon Bundy tells authorities to ‘go home’

The father of one of the last four occupiers of a wildlife refuge in eastern OR says he is disappointed his son has been named in a grand jury indictment against 16 defendants.

In an indictment (PDF) unsealed Thursday, they are charged with conspiracy to impede federal officers through intimidation, threats or force, a felony, the Oregonian reports.

The indictment includes four people who remain at the wildlife refuge as of Thursday: Sean Anderson, David Lee Fry, Jeff Wayne Banta and Sandra Lynn Pfeifer Anderson.

Ammon Bundy, of Nevada, was involved in a 2014 armed standoff with federal agencies over grazing rights. They have demanded that they be allowed to leave without being arrested.

Cox and 11 others were arrested, while the four people who remain at the site have been indicted on federal charges.

The siege largely ended on January 26 when law enforcement officers arrested several of the militia members during a traffic stop on U.S. Route 395, which also led to officers shooting two of them – including Bundy’s brother, Ryan.

“Government officials chose to end our educational efforts with attacks of force and it appears they attempt to do it again”, said Bundy in an audio-recorded statement made public by his attorneys. This abruptly changed last week when the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Oregon State Police moved to arrest Bundy while he and others were traveling outside the refuge.

This is what you get when government officials ignore the people.

“No specific threats or incidents have occurred, but we remain vigilant to ensure employee and visitor safety throughout the region”, Jody Holzworth, a Sacramento-based regional spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said in an email Wednesday. Finicum had been called “the tarp man” after spending a night under a tarp at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge when he feared an imminent raid by officials.

“Their approach is — time is on their side”, said Carl Jensen, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation supervisory special agent who is director of the Intelligence and Security Studies program at the Citadel military college.

This group, which took on the name Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, also said they were protesting the federal government’s involvement in land ownership in the area, touching on longstanding unhappiness in Western states over the way this land was managed.

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