Ammon Bundy was arrested for trespassing at a hospital after a protest about a child
By Andy Rose, CNN
Ammon Bundy, the rancher who gained national attention for leading the armed occupation of federal land in Oregon, was arrested for trespassing at an Idaho hospital, police said Saturday.
The incident began when Meridian police took into custody a 10-month-old child who had been the subject of repeated welfare checks since the start of the month for malnourishment, Meridian police said in a news release. The child’s parents were uncooperative in the investigation and left their home, police said. Authorities eventually located the family’s car and took the child to the St. Luke’s Meridian medical center, the release said.
Bundy and several of his followers showed up to the facility and refused to leave, police said. After several attempts to get him off the property, Bundy was arrested for trespassing.
Bundy, who announced in June he was running for Idaho governor, has been a part of several conflicts with authorities before, including over Covid-related measures.
He was indicted — and later acquitted — for leading the armed occupation of Oregon’s Malheur Wildlife Refuge in 2016. In 2020, he was charged with trespassing and resisting arrest after refusing to leave a protest at the Idaho Statehouse during which he and others demanded an end to the state of emergency.
He was arrested again last year for failing to appear at his trial after he showed up to court and refused to wear a mask, which was required by policy.
Bundy’s gubernatorial campaign said in an early Saturday statement he was arrested for “standing for parental rights and against medical tyranny.”
In a separate statement posted on Twitter, Bundy said the child was the grandson of a “very good friend,” adding the child was “medically kidnapped” because of a missed doctor’s appointment.
Bundy was charged with 1st Offense Trespass — Failure to Depart, and booked in the Ada County Jail early Saturday morning, according to sheriff’s office records.
A jail official confirmed to CNN Bundy was no longer in custody by Saturday evening.
Bundy is the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who in 2014 engaged in an armed showdown with the federal Bureau of Land Management over grazing rights for his cattle.
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