Vegas member of Bundy group accused of threatening officials

LAS VEGAS – A Nevada man with ties to anti-government activist Ammon Bundy has been arrested and accused of threatening the lives of a Las Vegas police officer and a criminal prosecutor, authorities said.

Joshua Alexander Martinez, 32, of Las Vegas, a member of Bundy’s People’s Rights network, is accused of making social media threats against Detective Kenneth Mead and Chief Deputy Clark County District Attorney Michael Dickerson, according to a criminal complaint.

A judge on Monday set bail at $1 million and scheduled a March 8 preliminary hearing on charges including misdemeanor harassment and felony aggravated stalking and challenging to fight with use of a deadly weapon.

Clark County Public Defender Darin Imlay declined Tuesday to comment on Martinez’s behalf.

Dickerson obtained a felony gun conviction against Martinez in 2019 that led to a probation sentence, and Mead had a courtroom encounter with Martinez in that case, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported .

Martinez acknowledged in an interview with the Review-Journal last week that he belongs to Bundy’s group in Nevada, and said he wants to hold Las Vegas police accountable. He has posted social media videos of police interactions with people, sometimes challenging their actions.

Police reported finding a shotgun in Martinez’s possession, the Review-Journal said. Court records show his 2019 sentence in a gun possession case prohibits him from having firearms.

Bundy lives in Emmet, Idaho. He said Martinez is a member of his group, which Bundy described as a network of more than 50,000 people in about 400 areas around the U.S. who communicate and share information.

He said he believed Martinez was frustrated about his prosecution in the gun possession case, but said he didn’t want to speak on Martinez’s behalf following his arrest.

Bundy was arrested on misdemeanor trespassing charges on consecutive days last August at the Idaho Statehouse in Boise while leading a protest of coronavirus restrictions.

Bundy and his father, Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher, were among more than a dozen men to face federal charges in an armed confrontation involving hundreds of followers and U.S. agents in April 2014 over a court-ordered roundup of Bundy cattle. A U.S. judge in Las Vegas dismissed criminal charges in January 2018 due to prosecutorial misconduct.

Ammon Bundy was acquitted of federal charges in Portland after leading an armed occupation in early 2016 of a remote federal wildlife sanctuary.