Ryan Bundy
Conrad Wilson/OPB
Federal prosecutors said Monday that Ryan Bundy tore his bed sheets and braided them together into 12–15 feet of rope in an attempt to escape Multnomah County Jail.
Bundy is at the jail awaiting trial for his role in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation earlier this year.
Speaking during a pretrial hearing in Portland, prosecutors said jail staff found the braided rope during a search of Bundy’s cell April 8. Federal attorneys also said Bundy had stored a container of extra food in his cell.
Bundy denied that he had any plans to escape the jail, calling himself “a rancher trying to practice braiding rope.”
“It’s self-serving speculation,” Bundy told the court, “and simply not true, your honor.”
Staff at the Multnomah County Jail confirmed the incident, but were not immediately able to release more information.