Anti-government activist Ammon Bundy was arrested in Idaho on Monday after he refused to wear a mask in court, thus preventing him from entering and making him a no-show for his own trial, officials said.
Ammon Bundy was due in a Boise courtroom at 8:15 a.m. for the beginning of his trial on misdemeanor trespassing and resisting arrest charges stemming from an August incident at the Idaho Statehouse.
For nearly a year now, the Idaho Supreme Court has required masks for entry into any courthouses in the state.
“Mr. Bundy today refused to wear a mask to come into the courthouse and thus was not granted admission,” Steven Hippler, administrative judge for the Fourth Judicial District, told NBC News.
And when he didn’t get inside the Ada County Courthouse, Magistrate Judge David Manweile issued a warrant for Bundy’s arrest.
As of 8:30 p.m. MT, Bundy was still being held in lieu of $10,000 bail, jail records showed.
If or when Bundy makes bail, a condition of the bond will be a requirement that he follow courthouse rules, including face coverings, said Hippler.
Bundy’s listed cell phone went straight to voice mail on Monday afternoon.
Bundy is best known for a 2016 standoff with his father, Cliven Bundy, at an Oregon wildlife refuge.
And this past fall, he refused to leave a high school campus that had asked him to wear a mask if he wanted to watch his son’s football game. The brouhaha led to school officials ending a game at halftime.
In August, Bundy and two others refused to leave the statehouse after a hearing was switched to another part of the building. When Bundy refused to get up from his swivel chair, state police rolled him out.
