One thing we can say about the latest update on Ammon Bundy is that we’re glad he’s out of Idaho and living in Utah.
But it’s a little infuriating that he’s not being held accountable for his actions while in Idaho and has been able to essentially escape further consequences.
Bundy, an agitator who has railed against the federal government and was a one-time gubernatorial candidate in Idaho, fled the state after he was found guilty of defaming St. Luke’s health system and he and his associates were ordered to pay more than $50 million.
He fled to Utah, where The Salt Lake Tribune wrote a story about his new life as a wanted man in the open.
Perhaps the worst part about the situation is that Bundy seems to be thumbing his nose at Idaho and the system of justice, which he has escaped like Bo and Luke Duke in the General Lee honking its horn as they cross the county line and out of the clutches of Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane.
Read more: Back in good LDS standing, Ammon Bundy talks about his life in Utah as a wanted man
“I’ve been doing (this) for a long, long time,” Bundy said matter-of-factly. “I’m not running at all. I don’t even have the location-share off on my phone. They can find me any time they want.”
Bundy flouting the law
Bundy has a history of flouting the law — and getting away with it.
In 2014, he fought alongside his father, Cliven Bundy, against federal agents because the Bundys refused to pay grazing fees on federal land.
Two years later, he staged an armed takeover and occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon. He was arrested and spent time in prison, but eventually he was released amid prosecutorial malfeasance.
Once he moved to Emmett, Idaho, his shenanigans continued: shoving a Southwest District Health employee out of the way so he could enter a board meeting in person during the pandemic, disrupting a football game in Caldwell because he refused to wear a mask against public health orders and trespassing at the Idaho State Capitol, for which he was famously wheeled out of the building by State Police troopers in an office chair.
For that last offense, he was convicted of trespassing and got a slap on the wrist with a $750 fine and time served after three days in jail.
Bundy shenanigans
But his shenanigans really escalated during a public fight with the Department of Health and Welfare and St. Luke’s over the welfare of the grandson of Bundy’s friend and fellow freedom lover Diego Rodriguez, during which the two accused the state agency and the health system of kidnapping the baby and being a part of a global child sex-trafficking cabal.
They staged protests that forced a lockdown of the hospital and diversion of ambulances when protesters, some armed, tried to enter the hospital. Protesters used threats and intimidation, naming individual hospital officials, some with “wanted” posters.
In the only sign of true punishment, Bundy and his associates were ordered to pay more than $50 million.
Read more: Anti-fed fugitive Ammon Bundy has a warning for MAGA crowd about Donald Trump
That forced Bundy to lose his Emmett home and orchard and whatever other assets he had, totaling about $1.5 million, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.
Rather than pay up the full amount, Bundy fled the state.
“I was (thinking),” Bundy told the Tribune, “if I leave the state (of Idaho), maybe (police) would leave me alone.”
That’s exactly what’s happened.
Bundy escapes justice
Because it’s a civil warrant and police officials in Idaho haven’t sought extradition, police in Utah can’t really do anything, according to the Tribune.
That’s fine with the smug-sounding Bundy, who’s clearly emboldened by his history of getting away with his stunts.
“They understand (that the government) did that once before (to me and family members for the standoffs in Nevada and Oregon),” he said. The feds “arrested us and put us in prison for two years. We went through two major federal trials, and they lost both times. It made them look bad. So why would they want to do that over this deal?”
It doesn’t seem right, but we here in Idaho can take solace in the fact that Bundy said he has no plans to return to Idaho.
“If I was to go into Idaho … they probably would (arrest me),“ he said. “But I’m outside their jurisdiction … (and) extradition is very rare unless it’s (for) a violent crime or a felony.”
So as long as we can hold that over his head to keep him out of Idaho, all we can say is “good riddance.”
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