Last week, federal prosecutors in Nevada charged Bundy with crimes related to his longstanding conflict with the Bureau of Land Management, and more specifically to the 2014 armed standoff with federal officials at his ranch near Bunkerville, Nevada.
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U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden in Las Vegas isn’t saying why it took so long to arrest the elder Bundy.
He has pledged to do so again in the future to keep federal law enforcement officers from enforcing the law against him.
Also included in the indictment for the Nevada standoff are Bundy’s sons, Ryan and Ammon Bundy, along with OR occupier Ryan Payne and conservative Internet radio show host Pete Santilli.
The 69-year-old rancher was arrested in February 10 in Portland, Oregon, where his sons, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, are jailed and accused of organizing the occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
All were charged with conspiracy, carrying a firearm in relation to a violent crime, obstruction of justice, extortion, and assault and threats against federal law enforcement.
On Thursday, a federal prosecutor in OR asked that Cliven Bundy be transferred to Nevada to face the charges, and a magistrate judge ordered the move, according to court records. When government agents tried to confiscate his cattle in 2014, Bundy met them at the head of hundreds of armed militiamen.
The five face 16 felony charges relating to an armed standoff the Bundys and their supporters had with the federal government in 2014.
Prior to being arrested, the Bundy Ranch Facebook page had stated that Cliven Bundy was coming to OR, and urged more militants to travel to the wildlife refuge to support the final four holdouts there.
Federal authorities said two years ago that Bundy owed more than $1.1 million in fees and penalties for letting cows graze illegally for decades on public land near his ranch.
JIM URQUHART/REUTERS Eric Parker from central Idaho aims his weapon from a bridge as protesters gather by the Bureau of Land Management’s base camp in 2014. The FBI on January 4 sought a peaceful end to the occupation by armed anti-government militia members at a United States federal wildlife reserve in rural OR, as the standoff entered its third day. In 1976, Justice Thurgood Marshall authored a unanimous opinion finding that the property clause of the Constitution authorizes the federal government to exercise “complete power” over public lands.
It took almost took two years for authorities to finally file charges against Bundy because, prosecutors indicated, “the investigation became purely historical in nature”.
Bundy’s attorney said he would be appeal the judge’s ruling.
Arnold later said by text message that “it’s important for the public to remember that there is a constitutional presumption of innocence in America”. The most serious charges against him carry maximum prison sentences of 20 years. The lawyer added that an indictment or a criminal charge by the government is not proof of any wrongdoing.
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When reached by The Huffington Post, Noel Grefenson, the court-appointed attorney for Bundy, declined to comment on the government’s claims about Bundy’s ranching practices.
