Malheur refuge participant convicted in earlier occupation

A Crescent man, one of more than two dozen people accused of illegally occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, was convicted Monday by a federal jury in Eugene of an illegal occupation of 320 acres of BLM land in southern Oregon last year, prosecutors said.

Kenneth Medenbach, 63, was convicted of unlawful occupying of federal lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

In May of last year, Medenbach delivered a letter to BLM claiming “adverse possession” of 320 acres of federal public lands in Josephine County, prosecutors said.

Medenbach erected a small cabin on public lands along a BLM road and refused to remove it, despite repeated warnings by BLM.

BLM regulations provide that a person may not camp or occupy the same site for more than 14 days without authorization. Medenbach was later charged with unlawful occupation and illegal camping.

Medenbach argued that the public land he was occupying did not belong to the United States because the federal government did not have constitutional authority to possess public lands in Oregon.

Medenbach also argued that federal courts did not have authority to interpret the U.S. Constitution, prosecutors said.

U.S. District Judge Michael McShane rejected both legal claims and the jury convicted him on both of the charges at trial. Judge McShane ordered the removal of Medenbach’s illegal cabin after the jury verdict.

Medenbach, will be sentenced on Aug. 1. He faces up to one year in prison and a $1,000 fine.

This case was investigated by the BLM and prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Douglas W. Fong.

Madenbach was arrested in mid-January at the Safeway in Burns, accused of stealing a refuge vehicle. he was one of 16 peopley indicted by a federal grand jury on Feb. 3 in the 41-day occupation of the Malheur refuge, charged with one felony count of conspiracy to impede ofederal officers from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats.