In the indictment prosecutors said those charged knowingly conspired “to prevent by force, intimidation, and threats, officers and employees of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service … from discharging the duties of their office at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge”.
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As the occupation at a federal wildlife reserve in Burns, Oregon, pushes past the one month mark, four protesters remain at the refuge, while 16 – including the four remaining protesters – were indicted on federal charges Thursday.
The decision to monitor the OR occupiers from a distance has not changed since January 2, but federal officials are stepping up the pressure outside the refuge and in the courtroom.
The holdouts have said they are not leaving without a guarantee that they won’t be arrested. They are identified as David Fry, 27, of Ohio; Jeff Banta, 46, of Nevada; and Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, of Idaho.
Eleven people associated with the standoff at the Malheur refuge in rural Harney County had been arrested and charged with federal felony offenses.
Bundy is the son of rancher Cliven Bundy, whose decades-long fight against the federal government sparked a 2014 showdown that saw armed supporters face off with federal agents, who eventually backed down.
The three-page indictment says the defendants brandished firearms and refused to leave the refuge, threatening violence against anyone who attempted to remove them. During those arrests, one occupier was shot dead.
Among the four still at the refuge and refusing to surrender is David Fry, who has vowed to stand his ground.
The FBI says Finicum, a spokesman for the armed group, reached for a gun in his jacket pocket.
“They’ve kind of put the call out nationwide”, Alldredge said.
Bundy said in the recording “Go home, Oregon State Police, you have already killed enough” and “Go home, FBI, it is time to end this”.
“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.
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‘Due to the evolving situation in eastern OR, all service stations are on alert and being advised to take appropriate caution, ‘ Shire said in a statement.
