Kenneth Medenbach, 62, of Crescent, OR has been arrested in the Safeway parking lot in Burns, OR for driving a stolen federal truck belonging to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge. A second federal vehicle was also found in the Safeway lot, but the driver has not yet been located.
Medenbach was arrested on suspicion of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, a class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison, and is the first person to be arrested connected to the wildlife refuge takeover. Think he’ll get the full term in the federal penitentiary?
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.
Medenbach is current on Federal probation for attempting to start another militia-style episode in Southern Oregon last year. He had attempted to squat on federal land in Southern Oregon, and that case was handled by US District Court Judge Michael Hogan, the same judge that dealt lighter sentences to the Hammonds in 2012 for setting a range fire on public land.
And there’s this bit showing Medenbach has been a violence-prone, wanna-be militia man for some time:
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.”
The occupiers put new signs on the vehicles saying “Harney County Resource Center”, the name Ammon Bundy has chosen to replace the wildlife refuge signage.
A meeting of the occupiers in town was cancelled as no one would provide them a location to meet.
It’s been over two weeks of this nonsense and patience with this mess is growing thin.
Friday, Jan 15, 2016 · 10:49:14 PM +00:00 · mamabigdog
UPDATE:
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.