DeLemus set to plead guilty in Bundy standoff indictment

Jerry DeLemus (Facebook photo)

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - A Rochester man has accepted a plea agreement with U.S. prosecutors in Nevada for his alleged involvement with the 2014 armed standoff with federal agents at Cliven Bundy's ranch in Nevada.
Paperwork referencing Jerry DeLemus' acceptance of the agreement was given to a federal judge on Tuesday, paving the way for a change of plea hearing later this month.

While the actual standoff occurred before DeLemus arrived at the Bundy Ranch in Bunkersville, Nev., an indictment filed earlier this year accuses him of organizing subsequent patrols to keep the feds from seizing Bundy's cattle.

DeLemus, a Tea Party activist and co-chair of the state Veterans for Trump for President group, was named in the March 3 indictment as a midlevel leader and organizer of the conspiracy, who, among other things: recruited, organized, trained and provided logistical support to gunmen and other followers and organized and led armed patrols and security checkpoints from April 12 till the end of May 2014.

A 60-some page indictment specifically charges him with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, threatening a federal law enforcement officer, assault on a federal officer, obstruction of justice, attempting to impede or injure a federal law enforcement officer, interference with interstate commerce by extortion, and several firearms charges, according to court records.

He was arrested on March 3 as several FBI vehicles full of armed agents in full tactical gear with weapons drawn swarmed his Rochester condo.

The Bundy standoff was an armed confrontation between protesters and law enforcement that developed from a 20-year legal dispute between the Bureau of Land Management and Nevada cattle rancher Bundy over grazing rights on federal land in southeastern Nevada.

Some 19 suspects have been indicted in the standoff, most of them in jail and awaiting trials in federal court just like DeLemus.