Sheriff declines to serve legal notices after Ammon Bundy warns he is 'at his breaking point'

St. Luke’s Health System is asking the Idaho Supreme Court to force the Gem County sheriff to serve legal summonses to anti-government activist Ammon Bundy in its civil lawsuit against him.

In a letter written April 12, Gem County Sheriff Donnie Wunder said Bundy, who lives in Emmett, is “…becoming more and more aggressive with his behavior…” when served with these civil notifications.

St. Luke’s filed the lawsuit against Bundy, his gubernatorial campaign and other business entities, as well as his associate, Diego Rodriguez, in May.

Protests over the hospitalization of Rodriguez’s infant grandson last year that resulted in the redirection of emergency services and a lockdown of the downtown Boise campus were simply a “grift” to enrich themselves and boost their own publicity, the health system said in court documents.

Bundy pleaded guilty to criminal trespassing charges in January, according to Idaho Reports, resulting in a suspended jail sentence and one year of unsupervised probation

Because he has ignored the lawsuit and hasn’t shown up in court, according to St. Luke’s, the organization’s lawyers said they must use processing companies to serve him with these documents.

Bundy, who unsuccessfully ran as an independent candidate for governor last year, told Gem County dispatchers he considers processors as trespassers, according to Wunder’s letter.

The sheriff said Bundy told him during a phone call that he was “at his breaking point.”

“By the tone in his voice, I believe he is,” Wunder wrote.

“My concern is with the safety of process servers and my deputies. I do not want to risk harm over a civil issue.”

In a follow up email with Gem County Prosecutor Erick Thomson on April 14, Thomson confirmed to St. Luke’s that Wunder would not continue to serve these documents without a court order.

State law requires county sheriffs to serve these documents in legal cases.

Failure to carry out these deliveries is a violation of St. Luke’s constitutional rights, according to its legal team.

Wunder told Boise State Public Radio in an email Tuesday that he cannot comment on ongoing litigation.

Bundy is due in 4th District Court on Tuesday afternoon to consider the latest contempt motion filed by St. Luke’s in its civil case, with a jury trial scheduled for July 10.

Editor’s note: St. Luke’s is a financial sponsor of Boise State Public Radio, but had no input or editorial control over this story.

Idaho Capital Sun is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Idaho Capital Sun maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Christina Lords for questions: info@idahocapitalsun.com. Follow Idaho Capital Sun on Facebook and Twitter.