Nevada Rancher Cliven Bundy, 4 Others Indicted By Federal Grand Jury

The elder Bundy, 69, of Bunkerville, Nevada, his sons, Ammon E. Bundy, 40, of Emmet, Idaho, and Ryan C. Bundy, 43, of Mesquite, Nevada, as well as Ryan W. Payne, 32, of Anaconda, Montana, and Peter T. Santilli, Jr., 50, of Cincinnati, remain in custody in Portland.

The indictment stems from what federal officials have described as the “massive armed assault” by Cliven Bundy and his co-defendants against federal law enforcement officers who tried to corral about 400 cattle near the Bundy Ranch.

The 2014 standoff came after Bundy had grazed his cattle on the public’s lands without pay fees for two decades, running up a bill of unpaid fees of more than a million dollars.

Perhaps you are thinking that’s a fair comeuppance for encouraging, organizing, and leading an armed insurrection, occupying federal lands, and repeatedly threatening to kill federal agents, which is precisely what the brothers Bundy were doing at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters in Burns Oregon for the last month.

If convicted of all six charges, he could spend the rest of his life in federal prison.

During the confrontation, several of Bundy’s followers took up sniper positions against the agents to try and retake the cattle.

“This is a continuation of them overreaching – going far beyond their constitutional bounds and showing that they are willing to use the court system to prosecute people that were defending their rights; defending their property”, Ammon Bundy said in the message.

Wednesday’s indictment identifies Cliven Bundy as the “leader, organizer, and chief beneficiary of the conspiracy”, and states that he “possessed ultimate authority” over the 2014 standoff.

BLM civilian employees, scientists and other members of the public were also subject to threats and intimidation from the Bundy family, according to the memo.

The government is now questioning Bundy’s ranching skills. Bundy asked the two-person fire crew questions in an “aggressive tone”, and the fire crew, feeling tension, drove off. Bundy followed it for more than 10 miles before the terrain got too rough to continue, the memo says.

“Today marks a tremendous step toward ending more than 20 years of law breaking”, said Bureau of Land Management Director Neil Kornze in a statement, referring to Cliven Bundy’s longstanding dispute with his agency.

An attorney for Bundy could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday night.

“Raised in the wild, Bundy’s cattle are left to fend for themselves year-round, fighting off predators and scrounging for the meager amounts of food and water available in the hard and arid terrain that comprises the public lands in that area of the country”, it adds.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of federal land called the Gold Butte surrounds the ranch. Bundy continued to graze the cattle illegally on public land, according to the indictment.

While critics of Bundy have questioned the Justice Department for waiting almost two years to take action against him, yesterday’s memo suggests the government’s investigation has been exhaustive.