Nevada Grand Jury Indicts Cliven Bundy, Four Others for Their Roles in Bunkerville 2014 Armed Standoff
Federal indictments just unsealed in Nevada charge rancher Cliven Bundy, two of his sons and two other militia supporters聽with 16 felonies related to the April 2014 armed conflict with Bureau of Land Management agents.
The indictments in Nevada are against the elder Bundy, his sons Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy, Ryan Payne and Peter Santilli.
Each are charged with 16 felonies:聽conspiring to commit an offense against the United States; conspiring to impede or injure a federal officer; four counts of carrying a firearm in a crime of violence, two counts of assault on a federal officer; two counts of threatening a federal law enforcement officer, three counts of obstructing justice, two counts of interfering with interstate commerce by extortion and interstate travel in aid of extortion.
The indictment聽also includes five counts of criminal forfeiture against each defendant.聽That means if Cliven Bundy and his sons are convicted, they will face forfeiture of property obtained from the proceeds of their crimes, totaling at least $3 million, including Bundy's cattle that roam free year-around at th Bunkerville Allotment and Lake Mead National Recreational Area in Nevada.
The defendants also face forfeiture of firearms and ammunition used in the April 12, 2014, standoff with federal authorities.
The charges in Nevada are separate聽from the criminal charges that聽Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy聽and 21 other defendants face in the District of Oregon related to the 41-day takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.聽
Cliven Bundy is not charged in relation to that takeover.聽He was arrested Feb. 10 at the Portland International Airport after getting off a flight from Las Vegas to Portland, Ore., where he allegedly planned to join four remaining occupiers at the Malheur聽National Wildlife Refuge near Burns.聽Bundy鈥檚 arrest was based on a criminal complaint related to聽 the April 2014 standoff at his ranch.
It is not clear聽whether federal prosecutors in Oregon will proceed first with the Malheur-related case, or defer to their counterparts in Nevada to prosecute the case involving the 2014 standoff.聽
