Judge Postpones Rancher's
RICO Case Against Federals

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A hearing in U.S. District Court here concerning accusations against employees of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management under a federal racketeering act has been postponed.

U.S. District Judge Clarence A. Brimmer was to hear arguments Oct. 18 on the government's motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Karen Budd-Falen on behalf of Wyoming rancher Frank Robbins.

"The judge put the hearing off," says L. Eric Lundgren of the Budd-Falen law office. "He heard a little piece of it and put the rest of it off."

No date has been set for a future hearing, Lundgren says.

On August 28, 1998, Budd-Falen and her client filed a claim against seven individuals in the Bureau of Land Management, as individuals and as employees of BLM, for violating the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).

The previous owner of the ranch that Robbins bought a half-dozen years ago had given BLM an easement across some of the private property. However, the agency failed to record the easement, and when Robbins bought the ranch, he knew nothing about it.

Robbins denied the BLM an easement when they approached him.

Budd-Falen says BLM employees began trespassing, threatened to take his recreational use permit and ultimately charged him with criminal interference with an officer of the BLM in pursuit of his authorized duty.

The BLM filed criminal charges against Robbins, claiming that because he would not let BLM employees go across his property, he interfered with them and their official duties.

A jury took less than 20 minutes after a three-day trial to return a verdict of not guilty against the rancher.

The RICO suit was filed, Budd-Falen says, after BLM told Robbins that if he granted them an easement, his problems would go away.

If Robbins wins, the RICO Act could become part of Western property law, Budd-Falen says, and it could be extended to environmental groups.

Most often used by federal prosecutors battling organized crime, the RICO Act applies when two or more persons conspire to an illegal act.

"The RICO statute doesn't just apply to federal agencies," she points out. "If we can show an agency conspiring with an environmental group to do an illegal act, I think RICO would apply. This is the first test case. To our knowledge, RICO has never been applied in this manner."