Gritz, Son Deny Intent To Kidnap Children Mother Who Lost Custody Of Kids Says They’re In Danger Of Abuse

Right-wing survivalist James G. “Bo” Gritz and his son pleaded innocent Tuesday to attempted kidnapping charges stemming from their efforts to help a woman who lost custody of her children.

The Gritzes, both of Sandy Valley, Nev., were arrested Sept. 30 in the parking lot of a middle school attended by one of Linda Wiegand’s two children. They told police they were shopping for a 1957 Chevy but authorities said they found burglary tools and photos of the children in the car the Gritzes were driving.

At a news conference after his arraignment Tuesday, Gritz said he never intended to kidnap the kids and only got involved in the case to alert the public to the problem of sexual abuse of children in America.

Wiegand stood beside Gritz as he spoke to reporters and about a dozen of her supporters. Her former husband, Tom Wilkinson, has legal custody of the children and has not been accused by authorities of any wrong-doing.

As Gritz spoke, Wiegand held up a large photograph of her children, who she claimed are in danger of being abused by Wilkinson and his sister, Karen Wilkinson of Suffield.

Karen Wilkinson stood on the fringe of the crowd and shook her head as Wiegand repeated the charges. “What she is doing is absolutely sick,” Wilkinson said.

Gritz, 57, and his son, 38-year-old James R. Gritz, are free on $50,000 bond apiece. They requested a jury trial, and are scheduled to be back in court Dec. 10.

Wiegand fled with her children after losing custody two years ago. She was arrested in July in Las Vegas and was freed on bond. The boys were returned to their father, an engineer who lives in Suffield, just south of the Massachusetts border.

Gritz, a former Green Beret colonel who ran for president in 1992, is a leader of the so-called patriot movement, which rails against a U.N.-led “New World Order” and charges the government with corruption and violence.

He helped negotiate an end to the FBI siege at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992 and briefly became a mediator in the freemen standoff in Montana on April 27.