Bail unlikely for Freemen suspect
Father frets over daughter
April 3, 1996
Web posted at: 3:15 p.m. ESTBILLINGS, Montana (CNN) -- As a Wednesday bail hearing approached for uncooperative anti-government rebel Richard Clark, FBI agents 200 miles away were in the 10th day of a standoff with other Freemen holed up at a Montana ranch.
Clark, whose father once owned the ranch, surrendered last Saturday. Prosecutors will ask that he be denied bail.
Clark faces 55 federal charges, including bank fraud, mail fraud, armed robbery, conspiracy and threatening to kidnap and kill a federal judge.
The FBI declined to say Wednesday if its negotiations with the Freemen are making any progress.
Agents control the only telephone line into the 960-acre ranch and refuse to let calls go through that they feel might aggravate the negotiations.
There are at least 14 people on the ranch who are wanted by either state or federal authorities, according to the Montana Attorney General's office.
Can't contact daughter
Steve Magnum, a father whose 8-year-old daughter is on the ranch, said Tuesday the FBI had blocked his attempt to call the girl. Mangum, a truck driver from Salt Lake City, Utah, drove to Jordan, Montana, last Friday to see what he could do to get his daughter, Jaylynn, off the ranch in nearby Brusett.
According to Mangum, his daughter, his ex-wife, Tammy, and her 10-year-old daughter from another marriage, Courtnie Gunn, have been with the Freemen for at least six weeks.
He said he was concerned for their safety if the standoff did not end peacefully. Mangum's ex-wife is now married to Elwin Ward, who is also at the ranch. Neither are charged with any federal crimes.
Won't cooperate
In some cases, the FBI has allowed family members and neighbors to go onto the ranch, hoping they might convince the Freemen to give themselves up. The standoff began March 25 when federal agents arrested two Freemen leaders who had left the ranch house. LeRoy Schweitzer and Daniel Petersen, Jr. face charges similar to those brought against Clark.
At his arraignment Monday, Clark refused to recognize the court's authority and refused to give the court his name.
"My name is private," he said. "I will not give it to you until I want you to hear it."
U.S. Attorney Sherry Matteucci says she will ask that Clark be held without bond, fearing that if he is released, he will flee. Even Clark's standby court-appointed attorney, Robert Kelleher Jr., doubts a bail bond will be set. (102K AIFF sound or 102K WAV sound)
Petersen was refused bail last week and, like Clark, is being held at the Yellowstone County Jail. Schweitzer is jailed at a federal medical facility in Springfield, Missouri, where U.S. marshals took him when he refused to eat after his arrest. Whether he returns to Montana is "up to him," Matteucci says.
CNN Correspondents Don Knapp and Greg Lefevre, and The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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