Sealed Hearings: Breaking News Special Report from Washington Representative Matt Shea

In an exclusive video interview with Redoubt News, Washington State Representative Matt Shea read from a letter he received concerning a BLM whistle blower named Larry Wooten.

Wooten was the lead investigator for the Bureau of Land Management’s investigation into the Bunkerville/Gold Butte operation that went bad for them in April of 2014.

The letter outlines egregious violations and abuses committed by the Bureau of Land Management employees, lead by SAC Dan Love.

These heinous acts were discovered when Wooten was assigned to investigate the Bunkerville Standoff/Gold Butte operation that took place in April 2014.

Wooten was the lead investigator for nearly 3 years, digging into a multitude of issues. He states in the letter:

…the investigation revealed a widespread pattern of bad judgment, lack of discipline, incredible bias, unprofessionalism and misconduct, as well as likely policy, ethical, and legal violations among senior and supervisory staff at the BLM’s Office of Law Enforcement and Security.

Interesting that state legislators are finally getting into the act.

Reading this report into the public may slowly help change the public reporting of the government's handling.

Here is a good article with details, excerpted below. http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2017/12/blm_investigator_alleges_misco.html

“Wooten accused Dan Love, the former special agent-in-charge of the cattle roundup for the Bureau of Land Management, of intentionally ignoring direction from the U.S. Attorney’s Office and his superiors “in order to command the most intrusive, oppressive, large scale and militaristic trespass cattle impound possible.’’ He described Love as immune from discipline, though Love eventually was fired from the bureau for misconduct in an unrelated case.

Wooten said he learned from other agency supervisors that Love had a “Kill Book’’ as a “trophy,’’ in which he essentially bragged about “getting three individuals in Utah to commit suicide,’’ following a joint FBI-BLM investigation into the alleged trafficking of stolen artifacts.

Wooten said his supervisor took photos in a secure command post at FBI headquarters in Las Vegas of an “Arrest Tracking Wall,’’ where photos of Cliven Bundy and co-defendant Eric Parker were marked with an “X’’ over them, and emailed out the photos, although no photos were allowed to be taken in that area.

Wooten called prosecutors in the Bundy case and told Myhre and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nadia Ahmed, as well as FBI special agent Joel Willis, of his fears that his supervisors weren’t sharing key witness statements with them.

On Feb. 16, Wooten said he asked Myhre if statements that Love made, such as “Go out there and kick Cliven Bundy in the mouth (or teeth) and take his cattle’’ or “I need you to get the troops fired up to go get those cows and not take any crap from anyone’’ would be considered evidence that must be shared with the defense. He said that Myhre replied, saying something like “we do now’’ or “it is now.’’

Two days later, Wooten said his supervisor took him off the investigation and another Bureau of Land Management agent confiscated files from his office and from a safe in his office.

The material included computer hard drives, collected emails, text messages, case notes and “lessons learned,’’ Wooten wrote.

“These items were taken because they contained significant evidence of misconduct and items that would potentially embarrass BLM Law Enforcement Supervision,’’ the memo said. “I am convinced that I was removed to prevent the ethical and proper further disclosure of the severe misconduct.’’

Wooten said his supervisor told him that Myhre “furiously demanded’’ that he be removed and that Myhre had mentioned something about the bureau’s failure to turn over all crucial evidence to his office.

Wooten noted that he was ordered not to contact the Nevada U.S. Attorney’s Office.

He said he believed Myhre “adopted an attitude of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’’’ or “preferred ignorance’’ when it came to potential information from the federal land management agency that would have been helpful to the Bundy defense.

He also said prosecutors relied on inaccurate talking points, particularly not disclosing at previous trials the fact there were government snipers on surveillance outside the Bundy Ranch before the April 12, 2014, showdown.

“Not only did Mr. Myhre in my opinion not want to know or seek out evidence favorable to the accused, he and my supervisor discouraged the reporting of such issues,’’ Wooten wrote.

Wooten said he had held Myhre in the highest regard, but believes his judgment is “clouded’’ by personal bias and a “desire to win the case at all costs.’’

Wooten, now working as a bureau agent in Idaho, sent the memo to an associate deputy U.S. attorney general who serves as the U.S. Department of Justice’s national criminal discovery coordinator. He obtained the lawyer’s contact information during a training by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boise, Idaho.

“I have tried to resolve these issues through my chain of command but I have failed,’’ he wrote in the memo.

But he felt it was “his obligation’’ to report his findings, describing his memo as a “last resort.’’

He didn’t return phone calls or messages Thursday night.”

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