Father of a holdout disappointed his son charged

Sixteen people in all were charged with one count of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States, including the group’s leaders, Ammon Bundy and his brother Ryan.

The four remaining occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge are facing charges, according to court documents released Thursday that say more than a dozen armed activists threatened violence against federal authorities and used social media to urge others to join them.

The holdouts want assurances they won’t be arrested if they leave. They are identified as David Fry, 27, of Ohio; Jeff Banta, 46, of Nevada; Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, of Idaho.

The indictment came a little more than a week after authorities began arresting people involved in the armed occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and, while taking the group’s leaders into custody, fatally shot one of the most high-profile occupiers.

Bundy said he is in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day and hasn’t spoken yet to his father, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who sent a letter to the Harney County sheriff Monday saying “We the People” will retain possession of the refuge.

Earlier this week, local residents who want the occupation to end squared off in Burns against militia members and others who held a demonstration to support the occupation and to protest the death of Robert “LeVoy” Finicum, who had been acting as spokesman for Bundy’s group. “You have already killed enough”, the message, which was posted to the Bundy Ranch YouTube page, says. On Oct. 5, it says, two of those charged traveled to Harney County, where the refuge is located, “to warn the Harney County sheriff of “extreme civil unrest” if certain demands were not met”.

“The Government’s claim that allowing Ms. Cox to associate with “like minded people” might cause problems (as yet, unidentified) is, at best, a generalized worry and nothing approaching the order of a compelling governmental interest”, Harris said in the motion.

Preserves throughout the USA have also been placed on a heightened alert.

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

The indictments were filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon Wednesday and unsealed Thursday. Another defendant, Peter Santilli, who ran a live-stream broadcast from within the refuge, has a hearing scheduled late Thursday at which he is expected to seek release.