Sheriff says Ammon Bundy was dishonest on social media

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Harney County sheriff said he wasn’t given advance notice that authorities planned to arrest Ammon Bundy as the Oregon standoff leader was headed to a community meeting in a neighboring county.

But Sheriff Dave Ward told Bundy attorney Marcus Mumford he hoped for Bundy’s arrest.

Bundy was arrested Jan. 26 during a traffic stop that included the fatal shooting by police of occupation spokesman Robert “LaVoy” Finicum.

The defense called Ward to the stand Monday, weeks after he testified for the prosecution.

Ward sparred with Mumford about whether a pre-occupation email from Bundy contained an ultimatum. The sheriff also said a statement Bundy released on social media after the two met led him to conclude Bundy was dishonest.

Bundy and six others are charged with conspiring to prevent federal employees from doing their jobs at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge during a 41-day standoff last winter. The lone woman charged no longer faces a federal firearms charge.

U.S. District Judge Anna Brown had given prosecutors until Monday to provide more evidence to support the charge of firearm possession in a federal facility against defendant Shawna Cox of Kanab, Utah.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight had told the judge that he regards Cox as someone who aided and abetted the possession of firearms. But the judge said the government must point to specific proof.

Four of the defendants still face the firearms charge.