First Oregon standoff defendant pleads guilty

Scott Willingham, who was part of the security team during the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, pleaded guilty Thursday to stealing government property.

Willingham was accused taking or converting government-owned cameras for his own use. He faced two counts of theft of government property but entered a guilty plea in federal court in Portland to one count. The other was dismissed.

Willingham hasn't been charged in the larger conspiracy case stemming from the Jan. 2 refuge takeover, but is the 27th person to face a federal indictment in the 41-day occupation of the wildlife sanctuary outside Burns.

He's the first refuge defendant to enter a guilty plea.

Willingham, 49, was with occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum on Jan. 15 when Finicum took down surveillance cameras at a substation six miles from Burns.

Under a plea agreement, he's expected to face six months in prison followed by two years of supervised release. He's agreed to undergo a mental health evaluation and spend up to 120 days at a residential re-entry program or treatment center.

Willingham also has agreed to pay an undetermined amount of restitution to the government. The cameras were worth more than $6,500, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Gabriel.

The maximum sentence for the theft of government property is 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

As part of the deal, district attorneys in both Grant and Harney counties have agreed not to bring any other charges against Willingham.

The judge Thursday asked Willingham if he believed entering the guilty plea was the right thing for him to do, and he responded, "Absolutely, without question.''

He will be sentenced later this year.

Willingham, who described himself to The Oregonian/OregonLive as an unemployed musician from Colorado, was arrested in Grant County on March 16 on weapons charges.

He had told an officer in Mount Vernon that he was prepared to take out his .308 Winchester rifle he claimed to have buried in the woods to "complete his duty to stop tyranny in federal law enforcement,'' Gabriel said.

His rifle wasn't in the woods but at a nearby home. There, police found five magazines containing more than 200 rounds of ammunition along with the rifle,  Gabriel said.

Messages written on the magazines included: "Brains and Blood,'' "Bye Bye Fed" and "RIP LaVoy Finicum 1/26/16 WAR,'' the prosecutor said.

Willingham told the FBI that he was armed at the Malheur refuge during the occupation but then left and came back to Burns intending to kill Harney County commissioner Steven E. Grasty, Gabriel said.

At his March arraignment in Grant County Circuit Court, Willingham said he wanted to be jailed there to await arrest by federal authorities for his role in the occupation.

-- Maxine Bernstein