Far-right extremist Ammon Bundy has spoken out about his new life on the run from the law, as the former sheriff of the Idaho county where he is wanted explains why cops have not yet arrested him.
The 49-year-old former gubernatorial candidate has a warrant out for his arrest after he fled Idaho instead of paying a $53million judgment in a defamation case in which he was accused of claiming that a hospital was guilty of child sex trafficking.
He has now emerged in southern Utah, close to the Nevada border, where he says he just wants to live in peace.
I left to try to get peace, Bundy told The Independent, noting that he abandoned his truck repair business and what he has described as a beautiful house with five acres of land and hundreds of fruit trees.
I displaced my entire family to another state, I left all my commercial properties, my community, our church, our house, he said.
Far-right extremist Ammon Bundy, 49, has spoken out about his new life on the run from the law as a warrant remains out for his arrest in Idaho
He is now planning to stay in Utah so long as the state doesnt want to make a political statement, and as long as the feds dont want to make a political statement.
For now, it does not seem that law enforcement will track him down.
Gary Raney - the former sheriff of Ada County, where the arrest warrant was issued, said he believes the chaos Bundy has caused in the past with his organized standoffs may make anyone with the power to arrest him reluctant to do so.
Even when he was sort of holed up at his place here outside of Boise, I encouraged the sheriff: dont do anything, take your time, dont go create a situation where he can put on a show and have his supporter come defend him or fundraise for him, Raney told the outlet.
Thats probably whats happening here in Utah. They probably dont want to create a situation that could be deadly.
Gary Raney - the former sheriff of Ada County, where the arrest warrant was issued, said he believes the chaos Bundy has caused in the past with his organized standoffs may make anyone with the power to arrest him reluctant to do so
He said he has displaced his entire family in his move to Utah, close to the Nevada border
Bundy had his first run-in with the government in 2014, after the Bureau of Land Management moved in to requisition his fathers cattle.
The government claimed at the time that his father, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, had illegally grazed his cattle on public land for 20 some-odd years, and when he refused to pay $1million in unpaid grazing fees, the bureau took his cattle.
The Bureau of Land Management accused Ammons father, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, of illegally grazing his cattle on public land for some 20-odd years
In response, the elder Bundy summoned hundreds of men, women and militia members to his cause.
On April 12, the armed gang surrounded the site where the impounded cattle was kept and demanded the animals back, allegedly setting up sniper positions on nearby highway bridges and badly outgunning the federal officials.
Federal prosecutors portrayed the protesters, some of whom were equipped with tactical gear and assault rifles, as part of a massive armed assault against federal officers.
Outnumbered by more than 4:1, unwilling to risk harm to children and other unarmed bystanders [...], and wishing to avoid the firefight that was sure to follow if they engaged the snipers on the bridge who posed such an obvious threat to their lives, the officers had no choice and were forced to leave and abandon the cattle, a federal indictment against Cliven, Ammon and his brother Ryan.
Ammon played a critical role in the standoff and has often told a story about how he was tasered three times in one confrontation.
To this day, cattle still graze the disputed land.
Ammon was arrested after playing a critical role in the stand-off with government
Ammon joined another armed standoff less than two years later
Ammon joined another armed standoff less than two years later, again in a dispute over control of federal land.
In that case, Ammon and hundreds of militants from across the West occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, about 30 miles south of Burns, Oregon, demanding the land be handed over to local ranchers.
That standoff ended when one of the occupiers was shot dead by police after a car chase.
Bundy was then arrested along with 10 of his fellow occupiers, and faced a slew of charges for both government standoffs - though he would eventually escape conviction on both.
In Oregon, Ammon and his brother Ryan were acquitted by a jury of all charges, while in Nevada, the case was thrown out because prosecutors withheld evidence from the defense.
Bundy now credits his time in jail, which included more than a year spent in solitary confinement, with cementing his antigovernmental views.
Those became even more prominent during the COVID pandemic, when he created an online coalition called The Peoples Rights Network, which attracted a host of right-wing militia groups to its cause.
A report by the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights and the Montana Human Rights Network claimed he cultivated a dangerous new network of militia members, anti-maskers, conspiracists, preppers, anti-vaxxers and others.
The group, which the Institute called Ammons army, then led a series of protests against COVID measures, including one in which heavily-armed militia members stormed Michigan legislative chambers and hanged an effigy of the governor.
Bundy, at the time, warned that if Idahoans complied with mask measures then they will go further until we are lined up naked, facing a mass grave, being shot in the back of the head.
He led a series of protests against COVID measures, including one in which heavily-armed militia members stormed Michigan legislative chambers and hanged an effigy of the governor
By 2022, Bundy decided to run for governor of Idaho.
But amid his campaign, the sick grandchild of one of his supporters, Diego Rodriguez, was taken into protective custody as the baby was suffering severe malnutrition.
Bundy saw that intervention as a breach of parents rights, another sign of the government overreach he had been fighting against for years, and mobilized his supporters to join a campaign of harassment against the hospital in an effort to get the baby released to its parents.
Hundreds then gathered outside St. Lukes hospital, threatening to storm the building.
The messaging from his supporters included claims of medical kidnapping and even accusations of pedophilia against the authorities.
Doctors, nurses and local police received death threats during the stand-off and the hospital was forced to close for several hours until the crowd dispersed.
One doctor was even harassed so mercilessly that she ended up leaving the country.
Bundy was taken to Ada County Jail after allegedly showing up with several supporters at St. Lukes Meridian Medical Center and refusing to leave
He remains wanted in Idaho after he fled Idaho instead of paying a $53million judgment in a defamation case in which he was accused of claiming that a hospital was guilty of child sex trafficking
Erik Stidham, an attorney who represented St. Lukes at Bundys trial, told The Independent this infant was suffering from severe dehydration and at the trial a number of medical professionals testified that the baby at that point was at risk of death, absent immediate intervention.
He noted that Bundy also made money off of the protests.
At that point in time, he was what was described to the jury as a "conflict entrepreneur." He was amassing really significant political influence for himself through the Peoples Rights Network, and he was getting donations flowing to him personally through the members.
So it was not just a political gambit, it was a financial venture for him.
Bundy did not attend the trial, and when it came time for the authorities to start collecting the $53million judgment, he fled the state.
All I was doing is trying to protect and defend that family, he said of the parents of baby Cyrus.
He admitted he knew that some people got hurt because of his actions.
The doctor who first saw baby Cyrus when they took him to St. Lukes Hospital - shes a young doctor, shes probably thinking shes going to do the best she can, Bundy said.
She probably loves kids, but she threatened CPS on this family that did nothing wrong.
The baby eventually recovered from the illness that caused him to lose so much weight and is now living with his parents in Florida.
Bundy, who once ran for Idaho governor, now says he sees his fight with the hospital as part of his fight against government overreach
Bundy now says he sees his fight with the hospital as part of his fight against government overreach.
Its about fascism, government and corporations coming together and restricting rights, infringing rights and saying basically, we have a right to take your kid whenever we decide, he explained.
And I fundamentally am against that, like in every way.
Yet former Sheriff Raney said Bundy has long said he wished to be left alone.
And my response to it is: so did that physician, so did that nurse, so did that child protective services worker, so did law enforcement. They just want to be left alone, Raney said.
Hes a hypocrite.
Attorneys for St. Lukes say they have now been able to acquire $4million to $5million of Bundys property and are continuing to go after more, despite Bundy declaring bankruptcy.
The attorneys for the hospital accused him of hiding his assets.
If Bundy wishes to obtain a fresh start, he must produce discovery to lay bare his long-obscured finances, they wrote in a motion to the Utah Bankruptcy Court.
But Bundy has suggested he might not go quietly if law enforcement keeps coming for him.
I hope they dont continue to pursue and to pursue and to pursue because I really dont want to leave the United States, he said.
And I really dont want to have to stop and make a stand.