PORTLAND — Thirteen of the Oregon refuge occupation defendants who either pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge or were convicted at trial have agreed to pay a total of $78,000 to the government to compensate for the costs of the takeover and damage to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
Based on their culpability in the 41-day occupation of the federal wildlife sanctuary in eastern Oregon in early 2016, their restitution amounts differ from $3,000, $5,000, $7,000 and $10,000 a person.
It’s a far cry from the estimated $6 million that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimated the occupation cost the federal agency, of which $2 million resulted from paying to move the refuge’s 17 employees out of town for safety to live at government expense in hotels for weeks. The rest included costs to pay for repairs and upgrades. It’s also far short of the nearly $1 million figure the government initially floated for restitution, according to several of the defendants.
Oregon’s U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams estimated last fall that the cost of the law enforcement response – from local, county and state police to the more than 1,000 FBI agents who cycled in from Portland and other cities during the refuge occupation – was just under $12 million.
Jon Ritzheimer and Ryan Payne, who pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge, and Jason Patrick, who was convicted at trial of federal conspiracy and other misdemeanor offenses, each have agreed to pay $10,000 in restitution.
The least culpable have agreed to pay $3,000 each: Jason Blomgren, Eric Lee Flores, Wesley Kjar ,Travis Cox and Geoffrey Stanek, according to a federal court filing Wednesday.
Darryl Thorn, who was convicted at trial of conspiracy to impede federal workers from carrying out their jobs at the refuge, possession of a firearm in a federal facility and misdemeanor charges including trespass, has agreed to pay $5,000, according to the court filing by Oregon Federal Defender Lisa Hay.
Occupiers Blaine Cooper, Brian Cavalier, Joseph O’Shaughnessy and Corey Lequieu, who each pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge, have agreed to pay $7,000 each in restitution.
Each is responsible for their own amounts and not jointly responsible for the total, which comes to $78,000.
As part of the settlement agreement, each of these men must disclose their assets to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Probation Office.
Sean and Sandra Anderson, who were among the last four holdouts at the refuge before they surrendered to authorities on Feb. 11, 2016, and Dylan Anderson, already pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor criminal trespass and each were ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution.
Not included in this settlement agreement are defendants Jake Ryan and Duane Ehmer, who have yet to be sentenced. Ryan and Ehmer built trenches on the refuge property and were each convicted at trial of depredation of government property.
U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown must still sign off on the restitution agreements.
