PHOTO COURTESY OF MULTNOMAH COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
The FBI has arrested three more people involved in the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge – including an Irrigon man.
In the early morning hours of Wednesday, Jan. 27, the FBI and Oregon State Police established a series of checkpoints at major roads in and out of the refuge. In the hours prior to the checkpoints, several vehicles left the area. Since the establishment of checkpoints, a total of eight people left the refuge. Of those, the FBI released five and arrested three.
At approximately 3:30 p.m., the FBI made probable cause arrests of Duane Leo Ehmer, 45, of Irrigon, and Dylan Wade Anderson, 34, of Provo, Utah. At approximately, 7:40 p.m., agents made a probable cause arrest of Jason S. Patrick, 43, of Bonaire, Ga. All were in contact with the FBI, and each chose to turn himself into agents at a checkpoint outside the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The arrests were without incident.
Each man faces one federal felony count of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation, or threats, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 372.
The arrests came after Ryan and Ammon Bundy, two leaders of the group that occupied the refuge on January 2, were among five people detained in a traffic stop on Highway 395 while they were on their way to a public meeting.
Another of the de facto spokesmen, 54-year-old LaVoy Finicum, was shot and killed after — according to one senior law enforcement official — he jumped out of his vehicle “brandishing a firearm.”
