Burns Chronicles No 55
Marshall Spring & Ben
by Gary Hunt
Marshall Sawyer Spring served as a Marine in Iraq with one of the defendants. He received a Purple Heart, but his honor stopped there. His and Ben’s betrayal, of patriots and fellow Marines, as informants includes not only informing, but goes well beyond, as you will see.
Spring and his partner, known only as “Ben”, live in Loveland, Colorado. Spring is a “Marshal” appointed such by Bruce Doucette, self-appointed “United States Superior Court Judge”. This would, according to the “appointment”, make Spring’s title “Marshal Marshall Spring”. Doucette arranged to meet Spring and “Ben” in Burns, to set up a Common Law Grand Jury. Spring and Ben’s visit to Burns coincides with the two FBI form 1023 (CHS Reporting Document) reports, and it is quite apparent that the reports are tracking Doucette as much as they are the events in Burns.
Doucette, on January 14, 2017, confronted Spring with the information I had. Of course, Spring denied that he was an informant, however, even though a subsequent meeting was scheduled, it seems that Spring has given up his phone, as it is no longer in service.
Efforts to contact “Ben” have been futile, and even his last name is unknown. He had red hair and was around the Refuge by January 12 until, at least, January 15, 2016. He was about 5′ 7″ or 5′ 8″ and weighed about 175 pounds. He sported a Fu Manchu goatee and moustache.
Whether Spring or Ben filed the respective reports is unknown. However, by some of the information contained within the reports, it appears that Spring is CHS #12.
January 12, 2016
[heavily redacted]
Later in the day, Doucette met other individuals involved with the standoff including Pete Santillli and Joseph O’Shaughnessy aka “Captain O”. O’Shaughnessy claims to be part of a militia group from Arizona and part of the Pacific Patriot Network. O’Shaughnessy is attempting to get a helicopter to come to the area to conduct counter surveillance. O’Shaughnessy does not like how the holding of the refuge compound is being handled. He believes that a very limited number of Federal Agents could take back the refuge.
Doucette also met with individuals that claim to be part of the press covering the standoff named Mike LNU of the TVOI News Network, Vicki Davis, Chuck Greenwood, telephone: [omitted] and Tim Davis. Mike LNU says they have a “brother” in the Sheriff’s Department and if this comes to a fire fight it will be between the cops.
Doucette’s plan in Burns is to convene two common law grand juries in the area. A common law grand jury consists of 25 jurors and 1 Grand Jury administrator. It takes 25 jurors to indict and 12 to decide on a presented case. The starting point of forming a grand jury will be to discuss the idea with the Safety Committee [Harney County Committee of Safety] on Friday at a party that is planned to take place in town. Roger with the Grand Jury in Florida is assisting remotely with writing all of Bruce Doucette’s decisions and indictments.
Doucette believes that if Bundy gets what he wants (return of the land to the ranchers) that in 6 months it will be taken back by the Federal Government. Accordingly, Doucette stated that, “we can’t leave here until a new Sheriff has been appointed and a new government is installed.” Doucette believes that a sheriff can be appointed because the current sheriff, his department and local government are all corrupt.
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January 13, 2016
On the afternoon of 1/13/2016, Bruce Doucette met with Ammon Bundy, Ryan Payne and Jon LNU. Jon LNU is a former marine that drives a silver F-150 with a “rogue infidel” bumper sticker. The purpose of the meeting was for Doucette and the other three individuals to see if they were all on the same page regarding the refuge stand off. At the conclusion of the meeting, Doucette and his bodyguards were invited to move onto the refuge. Doucette’s group returned to their hotel and started packing their gear.
While he is in town, Doucette attempts to engage local residents and persuade them that what the individuals occupying the refuge are doing is just. Doucette had some success in this regard.
The individuals occupying the refuge appear to have plenty of provisions and are in good spirits. The group has no intention of leaving the refuge until the Hammonds are released and ownership of the refuge is turned over from the Federal Government.
The occupation leadership’s plan moving forward is to try and duplicate the occupation at another federal facility in another county. The Payne is in contact with a local Sheriff in another county that is friendly to their cause. This county would be the likely location of the next facility. Payne will be meeting with the friendly Sheriff again in the near future.
Doucette is going to provide Payne with copies of some of the legal process he created in the past. Payne will review these documents and determine if Doucette methodology meets with his approval. (Please note: Doucette’s legal process is all fictitious).
Yes, even though Spring appears to be a follower of Doucette, that comment was included in the report. This is suggestive of the fact that Doucette is Spring’s assigned target, and that the Refuge incident is simply a target of opportunity.
January 15, 2016
Reporting from [redacted] on 1/14/2016 at 1:30 PCT
The meeting being held by the Pacific Patriot Network on Friday, 1/15/16 will be attended by Bruce Doucette, and Joe O’Shaughnessy.
Bruce Doucette’s invitation to Grant County was allegedly made by the town’s people.
The occupants of the refuge are considering targets in Grant County and Mahler County for their next occupations. The number of people at the refuge is approximately 10 Women and 30 men 24 hours a day
Bruce Doucette occupies a small house called the Coyote Hollow Volunteer Building on the south side centrally located, to the west of the chow call.
Reporting from [redacted] on 1/14/2016 at 8:15 PCT
Some of the occupants of the refuge attended a meeting in town tonight at a private residence with members of the public. The general consensus of the public at the conclusion of the meeting was favorable of the militia groups. The refuge occupants left the meeting in a hurry because there was a report of three white SUV’s approaching the refuge.
Occupants of the refuge are reinforcing the town with four foot land fence posts. They are also reinforcing the gate with fire trucks, fire hose and calops.
So, we can see the detail of the goings on at the Refuge as well as some tactical information. One word, if spelled correctly in the report, is “calops”. If anybody has an idea what “calops” means, that information would be appreciated.
Red-haired “Ben” has evaded identification, though, hopefully, someone can help to fill in these gaps. Apparently, Ben and Spring have tried to start a business that utilizes waste from medical marijuana processing to develop a going business.
These are probably Ben’s CHS #8 reports
January 14, 2016 – Ben
The CHS advised that Ryan Payne was out well into the morning of 1/14/2016 attempting to locate pole cameras on the roads near the refuge. Payne still planned to destroy the cameras, but the prior sense of urgency is not present. It was unclear of who would actually destroy the equipment, and further speculated that Payne would likely ask someone else to conduct the act to avoid any illegal activity on his part.
Payne and Ammon Bundy (Ammon) seemed to have bonded on a spiritual level. They both claim to be had visions from a higher power to support their actions in this matter and feel their current actions are based on direction from God. The fact that Ammon is Mormon and Payne is a Jewish Kabalist seems to have no ill effect on their relationship. Payne and Ammon appear to be interchangeable in the role of leaders of the others involved in the standoff. Payne and Ammon seem to complement each other in their dealings with those involved under them. Payne espoused a religious type view of the current event and their participation as being just the thoughts in the mind of a higher power. Given the fact that Payne and Ammon feel they are acting in the will of God, they seem to not be concerned if they live or die in this matter. The CHS speculated that if Payne and Ammon were removed, the group would fold due to a lack of leadership. Jon Rizheimer is not the type of leadership material to be able to control the group in the event Payne and Ammon were removed.
The current standoff has been planned by Ammon and Payne since late November of 2015. They were not aware of the Hammond conflict but planned for the takeover and standoff for the next event that satisfied their agenda. Ammon stated that the ideal number of personnel within the refuge was 75. The group expects the number within the facility to expand to 75 over the weekend of 1/16/2016. There is general talk of taking over a second location north of Burns, Oregon near Grant County or northern Malheur County. No specific plan for a location has been announced, nor has any time frame been provided. Speculation within the refuge was that if they were to take over a second facility that would happen over the weekend.
Ammon further told the group that he planned to hold the standoff until the Spring comes so he can have the group provide security for his transfer of the family cattle into the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) range. Ammon is afraid the BLM will take the cattle if militia security is not present.
There does not appear to be any intention of or attempts to provide disinformation to the members within the compound or the outside world on the part of Payne or Ammon. All of the information appears to be somewhat compartmentalized for dissemination to the members within the refuge.
The members of the group had a strong negative reaction to having been denied access to the fairground for an event that had been scheduled for 1/15/2016.
The CHS was not aware of any overt cache of weapons, but had not seen all areas of the facility to date. The food pantry is located near the back gate in the fire bunkhouse. That location is also where the majority of the members are sleeping. Payne, Ritzheimer and others are bunking in the building furthest away from the hill. Ammon sleeps in the office.
Meals are served military style at 7:00 am, noon and 7:00 pm. They are cooked by 5-6 women and are typical meals rather than dehydrated or field type rations. There is no shortage of food. Requests for food are routinely dropped off. Donations are being provided by those coming into the facility and from unidentified individuals from the outside. It is unclear how much actual cash is on hand but Ammon seems to control it and have no shortage.
January 15, 2016
The CHS was aware of meeting that took place on the evening of 1/14/2016 at a residence near the refuge. The home was located nearest to the intersection of highways 78 and 205. The meeting was attended by several local ranchers, Bruce Doucette and Jon Ritzheimer. Ryan Payne and Ammon Bundy were not present for the meeting. The local ranchers, Doucette and Ritzheimer spoke to the group. The ranchers expressed anger that the fairground had been denied for their use from their standpoint of being members of Harney County. They felt the issue at hand was being filtered by the media and the government and wanted to get the sides out to the public straight from the sources. The ranchers were encouraged by the militia to cut the locks and access the facility. The second alternative for today’s meeting was to invite all of Harney County onto the refuge for the meeting. The firehouse was being cleaned out for the meeting place on the refuge.
Payne has expressed that he feels the local ranchers are in support of the occupation and the militia because they may have access to a “land grab” if the federal government concedes and gives the land back to the state. He (Payne) believes the ranchers are supportive of the occupation for purely personal gain.
Ammon has requested transport back to his residence near Boise, Idaho. The plan is to depart the Burns area at approximately 12:30 pm local. There are reported to be three vehicles carrying Ammon and others, including 3% members for Ammon’s security. Ammon planned to handle family matters and potentially return to Burns on Sunday or Monday. The travel for Ammon was delayed until approximately 3:30 pm.
At approximately 1:55 pm, the CHS advised that a group was gearing up to go and destroy what they thought was a pole camera outside of the refuge.
That concludes what are probably Ben’s reports, since they both left the Refuge on either Friday, January 15, or Saturday, January 16, 2016. However, they were to return shortly after LaVoy Finicum was murdered on the side of Highway 395.
Bruce Doucette, being concerned for the safety of the “grand jurors”, contacted Marshal Spring and arranged for him to go back to Oregon to provide protection for the “grand jurors”. He gave Spring $5,000.00 cash to cover the expense of that task.
Spring decided to include Darryl Thorn among those he would “protect”. He arranged for Thorn to stay in room 203, at the Super Eight Motel in Redmond, Oregon. Spring paid the motel bill, gave Thorn gift meal cards for a restaurant, and some cash. This kept Thorn away from his home, and in a place much safer for the FBI to make an arrest.
February 10, FBI confirmed with desk clerk that Thorn was, in fact, still staying at the Motel.
[Note: correction made to the arrest incident, January 24, 2017.] On February 12, a number of officers entered the hallway on both sides of room 203, knocked on the door, and arrested Darryl Thorn based upon the Superseding Indictment.
On February 12, two “suits” were sitting in the lobby, facing the hallway to the rooms. As Thorn walked into the hallway to get some coffee at the breakfast bar, the two “suits” went to the hallway, one covering each direction to the side exits. Then, a swarm of officers, later admitting they were “Portland SWAT”, dressed in civilian clothes with body armor, approached Thorn. One of the officers, in reaching to subdue Thorn, hit his arm, throwing coffee into Thorn’s face. Thon was then subdued, placed under arrest, and turned over to the FBI.
That day, February 12, 2016, was a clean sweep for the FBI. Jeff Banta, David Fry, Sean Anderson, Sandy Anderson, Geoffery Stanek, and Darryl Thorn were all arrested and then transported to Portland.
In an interview with Darryl Thorn, only Spring and Ben knew exactly where Thorn was staying. Well, and the FBI.
In an effort to contact Spring, I found that his phone had been “changed, disconnected, or no longer in service”. This is indicative of the expected reaction after Doucette confronted Spring.
[print-me/]
Is this guy a new addition to Redoubt News? If so you better beware.
Thank you Shari..and great work Gary ! What a story ! As Ammon has said, sunlight is the best disinfectant….