BURNS – Oregon State Police on Friday arrested one of the protesters occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge after he drove into town, accusing him of having a stolen vehicle.
The man was identified as Kenneth Medenbach, 62, of Crescent. He was arrested on suspicion of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, a class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison. He was to be booked into the Deschutes County Jail in Bend with bail set at $10,000, officials said.
According to federal court records, Medenbach is currently facing federal charges in Medford and was released from custody in November. A condition of his release was that he would not “occupy” any federal land. He was accused of illegally camping on federal property.
He is the first person arrested in connection with the armed occupation of the wildlife refuge, taken over two weeks ago.
He was arrested in the Safeway parking lot in one vehicle bearing federal government license plates. A second federal vehicle was parked next to him, but the man police suspect of driving that into town already had gone into the grocery before police arrived.
Both vehicles — a pickup and a passenger van, bore door signs reading “Harney County Resource Center.” That’s the new name occupiers have given to the bird sanctuary they occupy, which is about 30 miles southeast of Burns.
“The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is grateful for the quick actions from law enforcement,” said Megan Nagel, spokeswoman for the agency, which manages the refuge. “We will continue to work with law enforcement to recover vehicles bought and paid for by the American people to care for their national wildlife refuge.”
In 1995, Medenbach was convicted on federal charges for illegally camping on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington state. He was ordered held in custody because of evidence that Medenbach poses a risk to the safety of other persons or the community because [he] acknowledges intimidation practices, references ‘Ruby Ridge’ and ‘Waco, Texas,’ and clearly would not follow conditions of release restraining his presence at the scene of the alleged unlawful activity,” according to a federal appellate court ruling upholding his conviction.
The appellate ruling said there was “evidence that Medenbach had attempted to protect his forest campsite with fifty to a hundred pounds of the explosive ammonium sulfate, a pellet gun, and what appeared to be a hand grenade with trip wires. The government also proffered evidence that Medenbach had warned Forest Service officers of potential armed resistance to the federal government’s continued control of the forest lands in question.”
Mendenbach earlier attempted to squat on federal land in southern Oregon. During those court hearings, he claimed the U.S. Constitution gave the federal government authority to own property only for military installations and post offices, The Oregonian’s archives show.
U.S. District Court Judge Michael Hogan handled some of the proceedings. Hogan was the judge who in 2012 decided that Harney County ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven should serve lighter sentences than required by law for setting fire to public lands.
Medenbach also has a long history of convictions on charges related to driving documentation and providing false information to law enforcement.
His most recent arrest comes amid growing public clamor for action to end the occupation.
Law enforcement officials have been taking a low-key approach so far. The FBI is handling the investigation of the occupation, but its presence in Burns is muted. Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward has repeatedly urged the protesters to go home, even offering to give them arrest-free passage out of the county. But at a community meeting earlier this week, he warned the militants that “there is an hourglass and it’s running.”
Whether Friday’s arrest signals a change in tactics by police isn’t certain.
No one from the refuge encampment appeared to show up at the scene of the arrest, though word of it spread through the compound and some of the occupiers hopped in cars to head toward town when they heard.
A tow company hauled away the van from the store parking lot as a state trooper drove away the pickup.
http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/01/protester_arrested_in_burns_dr.html
Looks like the Hammond group is looking to make themselves the self appointed rulers of the “refuge” and dictate to others who gets the land, no different from the government. Interesting how this is turning more into a case of petty theft by the hammond-group than anything else, driving around government vehicles pretending to be the government or in this case the NEW government or the New-Old Mason Government.
This just stinks more and more as time goes along. Think on this: If YOU stole a government vehicle, slapped a new label on it, drove around with the same plates and the cops busted you… What are the odds they would treat you this kindly? Oh right, you would be DEAD.
Or, this could be a government job right down to the magnetic signs. There is not enough information in this story to prove the guys arrested were part of the Wildlife Refuge or just government plants. Before jumping to conclusions, more information is needed.
“Mendenbach earlier attempted to squat on federal land in southern Oregon.”
He had every right to. It’s just as much his land as it is the rest of ours, NOT the stinking so-called ‘government’s’ land!
“But at a community meeting earlier this week, he warned the militants that “there is an hourglass and it’s running.”
And when that sand FINALLY runs out, you can expect hunting parties to come looking for your commie @sses.
It is standard operating procedure for Federal Agencies, to claim an individual is a threat to the community, in an attempt to get judges to deny bail. Most judges are sucked up by this, like a hooker on a john. Still, use of the government vehicle, by this individual, puts him at the lower end of the bell curve. Just sane.