Montana sheriff tells Oregon standoff backers to stay out of arrest

Sanders County Sheriff Tom Rummel quickly sought to ward off any potential for a local conflict.

In his own Facebook post on the Sanders County Sheriff's Office page Monday afternoon, Rummel wrote there is no evidence that Ryan, 25, is in Sanders County at this time, that the Ryan family has an attorney who is in contact with the FBI, and he is hopeful a peaceful resolution will be worked out.

“At this time, I believe a peaceful resolution is being achieved and outside citizen involvement will not be needed,” Rummel wrote.

Ryan’s mother, Roxsanna Ryan of Plains, did not immediately return a phone message Tuesday morning. She did talk to the Salt Lake Tribune on Monday, and told reporter Matthew Piper a “last stand” had “not been put into stone yet.”

She said the family wanted to gauge how much local support it had, adding, “We don’t want to put (county residents) into a situation where they feel intimidated.”

The Malheur standoff lasted 40 days, and included the death of Robert LaVoy Finicum, shot by police who said they believed he was reaching for a weapon after driving off during a traffic stop and later exiting his vehicle at a roadblock.

The sheriff

Rummel was first elected in 2010, and campaigned on the promise of being a “constitutional” sheriff, which he defined as “keeping an eye on what’s going on as far as individual rights, and the encroachment of citizens’ rights, are concerned.”

“From the start of this, it has been my intention to make sure that Jake Ryan’s safety and rights are provided for, and I will continue to do just that,” Rummel wrote Monday.

A conservative activist in Washington, D.C., Gavin Seim, called for Rummel to “throw out the FBI and protect his people” in a post on the Bundy Ranch Facebook page Monday night, and to arrest FBI agents if necessary.

In a telephone call Tuesday morning, Rummel told the Missoulian there are no FBI agents in Sanders County.

“The FBI is not in the county,” he said, adding he had no other immediate comment other than what he had posted on Facebook.

Seim, an unsuccessful Republican candidate for Congress in 2014 in Washington, updated his post late Monday night.

In it, Seim conveyed a message he said came “direct from the Ryan family,” although the Missoulian was unable to confirm that.

“We give our sincere appreciation for all the wonderful responses to this dilemma at hand,” it said. “We ask at this time that you stand by as far as a physical presence, but continue to be the moral support that we need at this time.”

“We will let you know as things develop,” the message continues. “Thank you so much, sincerely, the Ryan Clan. Please put this out and yes, we talked to the sheriff and his intentions are still to have Jake turn himself in.”

Seim called that "unacceptable."

The accusations

Jake Ryan is accused of violating a Native American archaeological site by digging a latrine with heavy equipment at the refuge and causing more than $1,000 worth of damage, according to court documents, as well as facing gun and conspiracy to impede law enforcement charges.

A second Montanan, 32-year-old Ryan Payne of Anaconda, was taken into custody at the same roadblock where Finicum was killed. A federal grand jury indicted Payne at the same time it indicted occupation organizer Ammon Bundy.

Payne was allegedly in the truck that Finicum was driving on Jan. 26. A third Montana resident, 18-year-old Victoria Sharp of Lakeside, said she was also in Finicum’s vehicle.

Sharp said she had met her mother and siblings, who live in Kansas, in Oregon to sing Christian songs and provide moral support for the refuge occupiers. She was not charged.