Ammon Bundy, Oregon occupation organizer, denied bail alongside his brother - Action News
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Ammon Bundy, Oregon occupation organizer, denied bail alongside his brother

Ammon Bundy, organizer of the armed occupation of an Oregon wildlife refuge, will remain in custody pending his trial on felony conspiracy charges, a U.S. District Court judge ruled on Friday.

Prosecutors mined Oregon occupiers' social media for evidence against them

In a Tuesday, Jan. 5 file photo, Ammon Bundy speaks during an interview at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, near Burns, Ore. Ammon and his brother Ryan were denied bail on Friday. (Rick Bowmer/Associated Press)
Ammon Bundy, organizer of the armed occupation of an Oregon wildlife refuge, will remain in custody pending his trial on felony conspiracy charges, a U.S. District Court judge ruled on Friday.

U.S. Magistrate Stacie Beckerman said she believed Bundy might attempt to occupy other federal property if she allowed him to be released on bail before his trial on charges of conspiracy to use force, intimidation or threats to impede federal officers from discharging their duties.

Bundy's brother, Ryan Bundy, was also ordered held.

Ammonand his followers made ample use of social media and videos to summon armed recruits to join their takeover of a wildlife refuge and to declare their readiness to stand their ground. Now federal authorities are using the occupiers' own words against them.

Two criminal complaints unsealed this week against the 11 protesters under arrest show that FBI agents have carefully scrutinized social media postings, interviews and online talk shows that were broadcast from the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge during the siege that began nearly a month ago.

Remaining occupiers demand pardons

Four holdouts continued to occupy the refuge in the snowy high country near Burns, and on Friday they posted a YouTube video demanding pardons for everyone involved in the occupation.

A speaker believed to be David Fry said he asked the FBI whether it was possible to "get out of here without charges," but "they keep saying that's not possible."

Bundy, through his lawyer, has repeatedly called on the holdouts to leave peacefully.

The ranchers and other protesters took over the refuge Jan. 2 to demand that the federal government turn public lands over to local control. They have complained about what they say are onerous federal rules governing grazing and mining rights across the West.

The criminal complaints detail some of the evidence against the occupiers.

Group's videos used as evidence

A day after the takeover began, for example, a video posted on a website showed Bundy saying the group planned to stay for several years. He called on people to "come out here and stand," adding: "We need you to bring your arms."

A video posted Jan. 4 showed another defendant, Jon Ritzheimer, saying he was "100 per cent willing to lay my life down."

In a video posted a day later, Ritzheimer talked about Robert "LaVoy" Finicum and other occupiers taking up a "defensive posture" at the refuge against a feared FBI raid.

"Right now underneath the tarp right there LaVoy Finicum is sitting underneath the tarp, and he's not going to let them come through," Ritzheimer said in the video.

That raid never came.

Finicum was killed Tuesday night in a confrontation with the FBI and Oregon State Police on a remote road. Bundy and four others were arrested during the encounter, and more followers were taken into custody by the next day.

At one point, a couple of dozen ranchers and other protesters were holed up at the refuge, but they began clearing out after the arrests and the killing.

Family of slainprotester challengeFBI account

The FBI on Thursday released a video showing Finicum's death, to counter claims he did nothing to provoke his killing.

In the aerial video, Finicum is pulled over in his white truck but then takes off in the vehicle and plows into a snowbank because of a roadblock. He gets out of his truck and has his hands up at first, then reaches toward his jacket pocket at least twice. He is shot and falls to the snow.

The FBI said a loaded handgun was found in the pocket.

Aerial video released by the FBI on Thursday shows the body of a man lying in the snow at a police roadblock January 26 near Burns, Ore. (FBI)

An undisclosed number of state troopers involved in the shooting were been placed on leave pending an investigation, which is standard procedure.

Relatives ofLaVoysaid heposed no threat and they were not accepting the Federal Bureau of Investigation's assertion that he was armed.

"LaVoy was not 'charging' anyone. He appears to have been shot in the back, with his hands in the air," the Arizona rancher's family said in a statement through their attorney.

"At this point we will await the outcome of any investigation, but based on the information currently available to us, we do not believe that LaVoy's shooting death was justified."

The charges against the defendants say the refuge's 16 employees have been prevented from reporting to work because of threats of violence.

Bundy is the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a tense 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights.

The group came to the desert of eastern Oregon in the dead of winter to decry what it calls onerous federal land restrictions and to object to the prison sentences of two local ranchers convicted of setting fires.

With files from Associated Press