Reporting from Seattle — Three months after the surrender of the last armed militants who took over an Oregon wildlife refuge in January, federal agents have arrested a self-styled journalist who had embedded with the occupiers.
Michael R. Emry, 54, was taken into custody by the FBI on Friday morning and later charged with illegal possession of an M-2 machine gun capable of firing up to 650 rounds a minute.
A federal judge in Eugene, Ore., ordered him detained as a risk to the community.
Emry calls himself the founder of the Voice of Idaho News, an Internet broadcaster. He recently relocated to John Day, Ore., where he was advising antigovernment protesters on ways to address their grievances.
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During the 41-day standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Emry lobbied the media to understand the militants’ reasoning and passed out copies of the Constitution to law enforcement officers.
The criminal complaint against him and a search warrant in the case make no reference to his role in the occupation. Nor do they explain how officials learned about the machine gun he allegedly had stashed under a bed in his trailer.
An item on his news site said he was arrested after being called to his RV park’s office, where federal agents were waiting.
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The news report went on to allege that agents then searched his trailer while they forced a woman who maintains the website to wait outside in her bathrobe for three hours. “She said they tore everything up and took their computer hardware, disks,” it said.
Emry admitted to taking the illegal weapon from an Idaho shop where he worked, according to FBI Agent Miguel Perez, who said that “prior to bringing it to Oregon, Emry obliterated the serial number.”
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Rancher Cliven Bundy stands along the road near his ranch after speaking with media in Bunkerville, Nev. Cliven Bundy and his wife Carol Bundy were returning from a trip to visit the family of LaVoy Finicum, a 55-year-old rancher from Cain Beds, Ariz., who died Tuesday after law enforcement officers initiated a traffic stop near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
(John Locher / AP)
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A group of more than 20 people march in Burns, Ore. on Jan. 27, 2016, holding a candlelight vigil for Robert “LaVoy” Finicum.
(Rob Kerr / AFP/Getty Images)
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LaVoy Finicum, a rancher from Arizona, speaks to the media after members of the “3% of Idaho” group along with several other organizations arrive at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Ore.
(Rick Bowmer / AP)
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Vehicles exit a closed highway about 4 miles from the Malheur Wildlife Refuge Headquarters near Burns, Oregon on Jan. 27, 2016. All roads surrounding the facility have been closed and heavily armed by law enforcement agencies.
(Rob Kerr / AFP/Getty Images)
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U.S. Route 395 is blocked at Seneca between the communities of John Day and Burns, Ore., by Oregon State Police officers the evening of Jan. 26, 2016. Authorities say shots were fired during the arrest of members of an armed group that has occupied a national wildlife refuge in Oregon for more than three weeks.
(Dave Killen / The Oregonian via AP)
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Ammon Bundy speaks to reporters Jan. 14, 2016, at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Ore. Bundy is the leader of a small, armed group that has been occupying the remote refuge in Oregon since Jan. 2 to protest federal land policies.
(Keith Ridler / AP)
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A police truck drives through a downtown street Jan. 15, 2016, in Burns, Ore. As a standoff at a nearby Oregon wildlife refuge hit the two-week mark, local residents were growing increasingly weary and wary.
(Keith Ridler / AP)
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Ammon Bundy, left, speaks with FBI agents at the Burns, Ore., airport. Bundy is the leader of an armed group occupying a national wildlife refuge to protest federal land policies.
(Keith Ridler / AP)
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Demonstrators gather near a national wildlife refuge Jan. 23, 2016, to protest against a group occupying the land near Burns, Ore.
(Keith Ridler / AP)
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A man dressed as a Continental Army officer walks through the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 10, 2016, near Burns, Ore.
(Rick Bowmer / AP)
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A member of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters stands guard Jan. 5, 2016, near Burns, Ore.
(Rick Bowmer / AP)
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A member of an anti-government militia uses binoculars as he stands guard at a checkpoint in front of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters on Jan. 5, 2016, near Burns, Ore.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
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A sign is posted on the window of a building at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters Jan. 5, 2016, near Burns, Ore.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
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A member of an anti-government militia holds an assault rifle as he stands guard at a checkpoint in front of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters Jan. 5, 2016, near Burns, Ore.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
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A deer skull sits in the snow outside a building at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters Jan. 5, 2016, near Burns, Ore.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
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Ammon Bundy, right, the leader of an anti-government militia, greets members of his security team in front of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters Jan. 5, 2016, near Burns, Ore.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
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Ammon Bundy, leader of a group of armed anti-government protesters, speaks to the media at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Ore., on Jan. 4, 2016.
(Rob Kerr, AFP/Getty Images)
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Established in 1908, the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, whose headquarters are seen here on Jan. 4, 2016, in Burns, Ore., is one of the premier migratory bird habitats in the U.S., featuring Malheur Lake.
(Mark Graves / AP)
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An American flag is draped over a sign at the federal office of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters Jan. 3, 2016, near Burns, Ore.
(Mark Graves / AP)
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Ammon Bundy, center, leader of a group of armed anti-government protesters, returns to the headquarters building after speaking to the media at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Ore., on Jan. 4, 2016.
(Rob Kerr, AFP/Getty Images)
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A member of an armed anti-government militia walks down a road Jan. 4, 2016, at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters near Burns, Ore.
(Rob Kerr, AFP/Getty Images)
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Duane Ehmer of Irrigon, Ore., member of an armed anti-government militia, walks near a building at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters near Burns, Ore., on Jan. 4, 2016.
(Rob Kerr / AFP/Getty Images)
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Members of the media tour the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters near Burns, Oregon, on Jan. 4, 2016.
(Rob Kerr, AFP/Getty Images)
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Ammon Bundy, center, leader of a group of armed anti-government protesters, arrives to speak to the media at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon, on Jan. 4, 2016.
(Rob Kerr, AFP/Getty Images)
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A vehicle occupied by members of a small militia group enters the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters property near Burns, Ore., on Jan. 3, 2016.
(Rob Kerr / AFP/Getty Images)
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A sign of the National Wildlife Refuge System is seen at an entry to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Ore., on Jan. 3, 2016.
(Les Zaitz / AP)
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It is not Emry’s first run-in with authorities over guns. In a 2004 Tennessee case in which he testified under oath but was never charged, Emry told prosecutors that he was a self-taught expert in making and modifying weapons.
He admitted to providing 66 machine guns to a single buyer who was preparing for civil unrest in the U.S. and assembling a bomb that was intended to kill a cocaine dealer but ultimately was never used.
Emry was the 28th Oregon refuge occupier taken into custody.
The standoff began as a show of sympathy for antigovernment ranchers who were headed for prison on arson charges, and ended after Oregon state troopers shot and killed one protester, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, who investigators said had attempted to draw his weapon.
The occupation has cost taxpayers an estimated $9 million in damages and law enforcement expenses.
Ammon and Ryan Bundy, the brothers who led the occupation, remain in federal custody. They were also indicted — along with their father, Cliven Bundy, and two other brothers, David and Melvin — on charges related to a 2014 standoff with federal agents at the elder Bundy’s ranch in Nevada.
In a motion filed last week to dismiss his case, Ammon Bundy claimed the U.S. government lacks jurisdiction over the federal wildlife refuge the militants occupied.
