Cliven Bundy, 4 others, face federal indictment in Nevada

They also would have to forfeit firearms and ammunition used in the April 12, 2014, standoff with federal authorities.

The indictment stems from what federal officials have described as the “massive armed assault” by Cliven Bundy and his co-defendants against federal law enforcement officers who tried to corral about 400 cattle near the Bundy Ranch.

Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and two of his sons, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, were indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury for taking up arms against federal agents in 2014 as part of a struggle over land rights and a herd of cattle.

The sixteen counts carry prison terms fines.

The indictments over the Nevada standoff come just a few weeks after Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, and other members of the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom ended the Burns, Oregon, standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Cliven Bundy’s attorney says the government’s charges are not proof a crime was committed.

In a statement following his arrest, Ammon Bundy said it was in fact the federal government that was breaking the law as defined in the U.S. Constitution – and those who stood up to the federal government were thrown in prison.

Federal officials are widely viewed as having backed down from Bundy in the armed Nevada standoff, possibly emboldening this year’s occupation of the OR refuge.

Ammon Bundy’s attorney, Mike Arnold, said Wednesday, “the Nevada indictment is no surprise”.

Two counts of threatening a federal law enforcement officer. Bundy’s sons, Payne, and Santilli have already been indicted for their role in the seizure of and 41-day standoff at the wildlife refuge.

Federal authorities said Bundy was the “leader, organizer and chief beneficiary of the conspiracy, and possessed ultimate authority over the conspiratorial operations and received the economic benefits of the extortion”.

Cliven Bundy and the others are charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, assault on a federal officer, obstruction, extortion and other counts in connection with the Nevada standoff.

Bundy allows his cattle to “run wild on the public lands with little, if any, human interaction until such time he traps them and hauls them off to be sold or slaughtered for his own consumption”, prosecutors said.

More than 300 million acres of land in 13 Western states is public land managed by the federal government.

U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams filed a motion Thursday, requesting that the hearing be canceled, citing a federal indictment returned by grand jurors in Nevada this week.

Prosecutors seek to recover $3 million from the five men if they are convicted of the crimes.

“The presence of many gunmen in and near the area of Bundy Ranch, the armed checkpoints and patrols, the presence of assault weapons in the militia camps, including (by some accounts) a. 50 caliber machine gun, further increased the difficulty of conducting a physical investigation of Bundy Ranch or the impoundment site”, prosecutors added. Bundy, 69, began his protest against the Bureau of Land Management amid a host of other ranchers angry about grazing fees and land restrictions.