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February 16, 2016

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ByKenRitter TheAssociatedPress LAS VEGAS Whenrancher Cliven Bundy faces a federal judge in Oregon on Tuesday, it won't be because he is ac- cused with his sons of hav- ing a hand in the armed oc- cupation of a federal wild- life preserve that ended last week. Instead, the 69-year- old patriarch will be an- swering charges stemming from a 2014 armed stand- off that forced federal of- ficials to release cattle be- ing rounded up near his Ne- vada ranch. Bundy is the first to face charges in what some advo- cates hailed as a victory in the fight to turn over fed- eral land to state control. U.S. Attorney Daniel Bog- den in Las Vegas isn't say- ing why it took so long to arrest the elder Bundy. He has said only that the inves- tigation is continuing. Laurie Levenson, a pro- fessor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said there could be many behind-the- scenes reasons for the ar- rest. "Negotiations, investiga- tions, safety concerns, ad- ministrative concerns," Lev- enson said. "There could be an ongoing investigation that could include a grand jury. They could have been waiting for the safest time, the most opportune time." Bundy was taken into custody last Wednesday as he stepped off a plane at Portland International Air- port. Family members said he was on his way to visit his sons, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, who are jailed and accused of organizing the occupation of Malheur Na- tional Wildlife Refuge that lasted nearly six weeks. They had demanded pub- lic lands be turned over to locals. Cliven Bundy is charged in the Nevada case with conspiracy, assault on a federal officer, obstruction, weapon use and possession, extortion to interfere with commerce, and aiding and abetting. If convicted of all six charges, he could spend the rest of his life in federal prison and face more than $1 million in fines. Officials won't say if a grand jury has been hear- ing evidence in the Nevada standoff. But additional ar- rests are widely expected. Bundy and his sons could still be indicted. The criminal complaint refers to at least four co- conspirators, but not by name. It accuses Bundy of unlawfully directing them and "more than 200 follow- ers" to stop federal agents and contract cowboys who were trying to enforce a court order to round up about 400 Bundy cattle. Federal authorities said two years ago that Bundy owed more than $1.1 mil- lion in fees and penalties for letting cows graze ille- gally for decades on public land near his ranch. An up- dated accounting has not been made, a Bureau of Land Management spokes- man said last week. Bundy asked for a court- appointed attorney at his first hearing last week, but the judge said she wanted to see financial documents first. It's a complicated case, and collecting evidence has likely been painstak- ing work, with results pre- sented in secret to a grand jury, said Richard Pocker, a former U.S. attorney in Ne- vada. "They've probably been working up to this by talk- ing to a lot of people who showed up as followers, and making deals and trying to get cooperating witnesses," Pocker said. "It's really hard to get folks in these move- ments to cooperate with a grand jury." Pocker won convictions in 1987 of five members of an anti-government group accused of threatening the lives of Internal Revenue Service agents and a Ne- vada state judge. He is not connected with the Bundy case. Pocker said federal pros- ecutors will want strong ev- idence, because the case is likely to reach trial. Defendants with a politi- cal message "may find trial is an opportunity to talk about their credo," Pocker said. "But no matter how they wrap it up in consti- tutional dressing, the un- derlying crimes are serious crimes." CLIVEN BUNDY Experts:Buildingcasein2014standoffiscomplex JOHNLOCHER—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Rancher Cliven Bundy stands along the road near his ranch in Bunkerville, Nev. By Jacques Billeaud The Associated Press PHOENIX Halfway through 2014, three Arizona men were falling under the sway of the Islamic State group, authorities say. The trio watched vid- eos depicting violence by jihadists, tried to get pipe bombs, planned an attack at a Prophet Muhammad cartoon contest in Texas last year and researched travel to the Middle East so they could join Islamic State fighters, investiga- tors say. Two of the men brought semiautomatic rifles and an Islamic State flag to the May 3 contest featuring cartoons deemed offen- sive to Muslims and died in a shootout with police before hurting anyone at- tending the event in subur- ban Dallas. The third man goes on trial Tuesday in Phoenix in what is believed to be the first time the U.S. govern- ment has put a person on trial on terror charges re- lated to the militant group. Abdul Malik Abdul Ka- reem, a 44-year-old moving company owner, is accused of hosting the two gunmen at his home to discuss plans for the attack, going target shooting in the remote Ar- izona desert with the pair and providing the guns used at the contest. Prosecutors say Kareem also encouraged Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi to carry out violence in the United States in support of the Islamic State group and inquired about explosives to blow up a stadium in metro Phoenix during the 2015 Su- per Bowl. Kareem denies the alle- gations. It's unknown whether the thwarted Texas attack was inspired by the Islamic State or carried out in response to an order from the group. Prosecutors paint a pic- ture of three men being influenced by the group, which has amassed thou- sands of fighters around the globe and taken control of parts of Syria and Iraq while carrying out behead- ings, mass shootings and other violence. Six weeks before the car- toon contest, Simpson ac- cessed an Islamic State list of residential addresses of U.S. military service members whom the group wanted attacked. Simp- son and Soofi also drove to Yuma and elsewhere in Ari- zona near military installa- tions after having discussed plans to attack a base. FBI Director James Comey told lawmakers in December that one of the attackers exchanged more than 100 messages with an overseas terrorist in the days before the attack in Garland, Texas. Kareem's indictment says Simpson used social media to com- municate with Islamic State extremists and other violent jihadists. The U.S. Justice Depart- ment didn't respond to questions about the case. "I believe the shooters were motivated by what they thought was the Is- lamic State, but I'm not sure they were directed by the Islamic State," said Scott Stewart, a vice president for the Texas-based global in- telligence company Stratfor and a former U.S. State De- partment investigator who examined the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. The U.S. government has charged 78 people with crimes related to the Is- lamic State group since March 2014, said Karen J. Greenberg, director of the Fordham Law School's Center on National Secu- rity, which tracks terror- ism cases. While 24 people charged with crimes re- lated to the radical group have pleaded guilty, no one has yet gone to trial on such charges. Kareem and his lawyer, Daniel Maynard, declined requests for an interview. Maynard has previously said the case was trumped up and based largely on the work on an unreliable con- fidential informant. Two days after the Texas attack, Kareem went to the FBI's office in Phoenix for an interview with investi- gators in which he denied any involvement. He was ar- rested five weeks later. James Newman, Ka- reem's younger brother, said that his brother never expressed a radical politi- cal or religious view to him and is a victim of guilt by association with the two Muslims who carried out the attack. He vehemently rejects the government's portrayal of his brother as a supporter of terrorists. Newman said Kareem was a Muslim throughout his adulthood, but his faith deepened over the last five years after he was jailed on a drunken driving convic- tion. He used his religion as a way to cope with his longtime struggle with al- cohol. He abandoned his birth name of Decarus Low- ell Thomas and legally be- came Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem in 2013. "It probably wasn't the smartest decision to hang with these guys, but he was probably just building his faith," Newman said of Simpson and Soofi. Kareem, sporting a shaggy salt-and-pepper beard and bound by hand- cuffs and a belly chain, has remained silent through his latest court hearings. Six deputy U.S. marshals stood watch in the courtroom during a late December hearing. He faces charges including conspiracy and conspiring to provide ma- terial support to a foreign terrorist organization. Authorities say they first interviewed Kareem in a terrorism investigation in late 2011 and later searched his apartment when one of his roommates tried to get a fraudulentArizonaStateUni- versity degree as part a plan for the roommate to gain ad- mission into an Islamic uni- versity in Saudi Arabia. During the apartment search, authorities say they found al-Qaida promotional materials on Kareem's lap- top and an attached flash drive. Kareem has denied the flash drive was his. His lawyer unsuccessfully tried to bar prosecutors from us- ing the promotional materi- als as evidence at trial. TERROR CHARGES Trial to start on Islamic State-linked charges in Texas cartoon contest MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem "I believe the shooters were motivated by what they thought was the Islamic State, but I'm not sure they were directed by the Islamic State." — Scott Stewart, vice president for global intelligence company Stratfor 13540 Trinity Ave, Red Bluff (530) 527-8262 • (530) 528-8261 IF NO ANSWER CALL 529-7400 www.garysautobodyandtowing.com AUTO BODY REPAIR 24 HOUR TOWING WE BILL ALL MAJOR INSURANCE COMPANIES • ECO-FRIENDLY&DRUGFREE • COLLISION REPAIR APPROVED BY ALL MAJOR INSURANCE COMPANIES • LIFETIME WARRANTY • STATE-OF-THE-ART DOWN DRAFT SPRAY BOOTH • NATIONAL AWARD WINNING RESTORATION • AUTO & RV REPAIRS "WE MEET BY ACCIDENTS" • ECO-FRIENDLY&DRUGFREE • FAST! 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