Police Make First Arrests Related To Stolen Wildlife Refuge Vehicles

Kenneth Medenbach, 62, was the first of the group to be arrested after he attempted to purchase supplies from a Safeway grocery store in a vehicle bearing federal government license plates, officials said.

He was charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle. The agency runs the wildlife refuge.

Earlier this week, the Burns Paiute Tribal Council passed a resolution designating the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as a “Traditional Cultural Property” under the National Historic Preservation Act.

“He argued that the U.S. Constitution bars the government from owning land except for national defense and that that 10 acres was his fair share of the 30 million acres of federal land in OR”, the Associated Press wrote in a June 1995 article.

Medenbach vacated the rented property in La Pine in 2013, leaving behind a variety of items and drawing the attention of Deschutes County Code Enforcement.

This isn’t the first time Medenbach has had a run-in with federal officials.

He was there to protest BLM demands that owners of the aging gold mine shut down their operation.

As the standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge hits the two-week mark, people in this high desert area are growing increasingly tired and wary.

“In 1995, he was convicted on federal charges for illegally camping on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington state”.

“I’m going to challenge the court’s jurisdiction and I’m sure I’ll wind up in jail”, Medenbach wrote in mid-November. The price of freedom!

He was released on bail, though as part of the conditions he agreed not to “reside, camp on, occupy, or leave any property on federal lands”. The court rejected his motion.

KrisAnne Hall, a prominent national face of the so-called patriot movement, will visit Burns on Monday to conduct public workshops supporting the point-of-view of those occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported the vehicles stolen to the Harney County Sheriff’s Office. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had reported the vehicles stolen to the county sheriff’s office.

“To take a truck and drive it in that is not registered and licensed yet to Harney County, which we hope will be soon, is not a good choice, and we will miss him”.