International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation Volume 6 2023 136
While the child was being stabilized at the hospital,
Bundy called upon members of his association,
the “Peoples Rights Network” (PRN), to pressure
the hospital to return the child to his parents.
Approximately 140 PRN members protested outside
the hospital. Many carried firearms. These protests
were highly disruptive, and forced the hospital to go
into lockdown. Patients and staff were unable to enter
or exit the building. PRN followers also flooded the
hospital’s phone lines and email inboxes with death
threats and threatening emails, disrupting the hospital’s
servers and the hospital’s ability to function (St. Luke’s
Health System v. Ammon Bundy, 2022).
In a subsequent lawsuit, hospital officials accused
Bundy of making false claims about the hospital and
their staff. Among other things, Bundy alleged “medical
kidnapping” for child sex trafficking, and purposely
harming and abusing the child. Bundy also claimed
that the hospital’s actions were only done for money,
despite the fact the patient’s financial advocate assisted
the uninsured family in obtaining Children’s Health
Insurance Plan (CHIP) support under Medicaid. That
support covered the entire cost of care for the infant
(St. Luke’s Health System v. Ammon Bundy, 2022).
Bundy and his followers specifically targeted the
president/CEO of the hospital. They created a wanted
poster with his headshot, accusing him of “criminal
accessory of child abduction and deprivation of rights
under color of law” (St. Luke’s Health System v. Ammon
Bundy, 2022, p. 23). Personal information of the
arresting officers and CPS workers was also posted on
their social media channels. Flyers on Bundy’s website
contained their personal pictures, each with the label
“perpetrator” written in bold lettering, along with
personal addresses and a list of actions of which they
were supposedly guilty. For instance, one flyer read:
Hi Neighbor! Did you know that our neighbor
[name of arresting officer or CPS worker]
recently helped in the abduction of a young
child, named Cyrus Anderson, from the loving
arms of his young mother? She was promised
she would be able to remain with her son, but
this was a planned and COMPLETE LIE, and
once out of public eye, he took her child from
her arms against her will. Neither, his father or
mother has seen their child since. We thought
you should know this so you can keep a close
eye on your children
(St. Luke’s Health System v. Ammon Bundy, 2022,
p. 23).
Another flyer read:
Each flyer included the address of a website containing
more (alleged) details.
It is worth noting that Diego Rodriguez (the
grandfather of “Baby Cyrus”) is the narrator of a
2022 documentary film entitled “These Little Ones”
produced by the Stew Peters Network (SPN). Stew
Peters is a popular right-wing personality figure known
for promoting disinformation and conspiracy theories
(Sommer, 2021). The film features the story of “Baby
Cyrus,” and supposedly exposes CPS’s involvement
in a “government subsidized” satanic child trafficking
ring, “the largest in the history of the world” (Miller
Skow, &Stumphauzer, 2022, 4:56). The filmmakers,
Matthew Miller Skow and Nicholas Stumphauzer, are
the same people behind the debunked conspiracy film
“Died Suddenly” (EDMO, 2022).
In the film, Diego Rodriguez explains that the 1997
Adoption and Safe Families Act, “put into law by Bill
and Hillary Clinton,” steals money from the Social
Security fund and gives it to the states to “incentivize
them to kidnap babies” (Miller Skow, &Stumphauzer,
2022, 5:15). Each child, he says, is worth about 1 million
dollars to the state, adding up to a $60 to 80 billion
dollars a year (Miller Skow, &Stumphauzer, 2022).
That large sum of money is allegedly given to the states
Did you know that our neighbor [name of
arresting officer or CPS worker] recently
decided that he had more authority over, and
cared more, for young Cyrus Anderson than
his own loving parents? Because they missed a
non-life-threatening medical appointment, he
ordered CPS to collude with ‘peace officers’ to
abduct the child from his mother. Neither father
or mother has seen their child since. We thought
you should know this so you can keep a close
eye on your children
(St. Luke’s Health System v. Ammon Bundy,
2022, p. 23).
While the child was being stabilized at the hospital,
Bundy called upon members of his association,
the “Peoples Rights Network” (PRN), to pressure
the hospital to return the child to his parents.
Approximately 140 PRN members protested outside
the hospital. Many carried firearms. These protests
were highly disruptive, and forced the hospital to go
into lockdown. Patients and staff were unable to enter
or exit the building. PRN followers also flooded the
hospital’s phone lines and email inboxes with death
threats and threatening emails, disrupting the hospital’s
servers and the hospital’s ability to function (St. Luke’s
Health System v. Ammon Bundy, 2022).
In a subsequent lawsuit, hospital officials accused
Bundy of making false claims about the hospital and
their staff. Among other things, Bundy alleged “medical
kidnapping” for child sex trafficking, and purposely
harming and abusing the child. Bundy also claimed
that the hospital’s actions were only done for money,
despite the fact the patient’s financial advocate assisted
the uninsured family in obtaining Children’s Health
Insurance Plan (CHIP) support under Medicaid. That
support covered the entire cost of care for the infant
(St. Luke’s Health System v. Ammon Bundy, 2022).
Bundy and his followers specifically targeted the
president/CEO of the hospital. They created a wanted
poster with his headshot, accusing him of “criminal
accessory of child abduction and deprivation of rights
under color of law” (St. Luke’s Health System v. Ammon
Bundy, 2022, p. 23). Personal information of the
arresting officers and CPS workers was also posted on
their social media channels. Flyers on Bundy’s website
contained their personal pictures, each with the label
“perpetrator” written in bold lettering, along with
personal addresses and a list of actions of which they
were supposedly guilty. For instance, one flyer read:
Hi Neighbor! Did you know that our neighbor
[name of arresting officer or CPS worker]
recently helped in the abduction of a young
child, named Cyrus Anderson, from the loving
arms of his young mother? She was promised
she would be able to remain with her son, but
this was a planned and COMPLETE LIE, and
once out of public eye, he took her child from
her arms against her will. Neither, his father or
mother has seen their child since. We thought
you should know this so you can keep a close
eye on your children
(St. Luke’s Health System v. Ammon Bundy, 2022,
p. 23).
Another flyer read:
Each flyer included the address of a website containing
more (alleged) details.
It is worth noting that Diego Rodriguez (the
grandfather of “Baby Cyrus”) is the narrator of a
2022 documentary film entitled “These Little Ones”
produced by the Stew Peters Network (SPN). Stew
Peters is a popular right-wing personality figure known
for promoting disinformation and conspiracy theories
(Sommer, 2021). The film features the story of “Baby
Cyrus,” and supposedly exposes CPS’s involvement
in a “government subsidized” satanic child trafficking
ring, “the largest in the history of the world” (Miller
Skow, &Stumphauzer, 2022, 4:56). The filmmakers,
Matthew Miller Skow and Nicholas Stumphauzer, are
the same people behind the debunked conspiracy film
“Died Suddenly” (EDMO, 2022).
In the film, Diego Rodriguez explains that the 1997
Adoption and Safe Families Act, “put into law by Bill
and Hillary Clinton,” steals money from the Social
Security fund and gives it to the states to “incentivize
them to kidnap babies” (Miller Skow, &Stumphauzer,
2022, 5:15). Each child, he says, is worth about 1 million
dollars to the state, adding up to a $60 to 80 billion
dollars a year (Miller Skow, &Stumphauzer, 2022).
That large sum of money is allegedly given to the states
Did you know that our neighbor [name of
arresting officer or CPS worker] recently
decided that he had more authority over, and
cared more, for young Cyrus Anderson than
his own loving parents? Because they missed a
non-life-threatening medical appointment, he
ordered CPS to collude with ‘peace officers’ to
abduct the child from his mother. Neither father
or mother has seen their child since. We thought
you should know this so you can keep a close
eye on your children
(St. Luke’s Health System v. Ammon Bundy,
2022, p. 23).
