BURNS, Ore., Jan. 28, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — A second Utahn is in custody after leaving the armed occupation of Oregon’s Malheur Wildlife Refuge.
Dylan Wade Anderson, 34, of Provo, was arrested with another man, Duane Leo Ehmer, 45, of Irrigon, Ore., at about 3:30 p.m. Pacific time on Wednesday after they left the refuge.
A third man, Jason S. Patrick, 43, of Bonaire, Ga., was arrested at about 7:40 p.m. Wednesday. Five other people leaving the refuge were questioned and released.
According to an ABC News report, all three men had been in contact with FBI agents prior to their arrest, and were taken into custody without incident.
The first Utahn taken into custody in connection with the occupation, which began Jan. 2, was Shawna Cox, 59, of Kanab. Cox, who was part of a group of eight people intercepted by law enforcement agents as they drove to a nearby town, intending to meet with a group of others.
The militant group’s leader, Ammon Bundy, was also arrested in that traffic-stop operation. While in custody, Bundy asked his followers at the refuge to stop the occupation.
“I’m asking the federal government to allow the people at the refuge to go home without being prosecuted,” Bundy said in a statement delivered by his lawyer, Mike Arnold. “To those at the refuge, I love you. Let us take this fight from here. Please stand down. Please stand down. Go home and hug your families.”
Shot and killed during the traffic-stop arrests was LaVoy Finicum, a spokesman for the Oregon militia group. Ammon Bundy’s brother, Ryan Bundy, was reportedly injured by gunfire. For additional names of those arrested Wednesday, click here.
The armed occupation of the eastern Oregon refuge began in protest of the arson conviction of two ranchers for burning federal land in connection with a dispute over grazing rights and fees.
