BOISE, Idaho — A man who illegally lived on public lands in Idaho for three years and assaulted and threatened federal officers will be sentenced on Monday.
7 Investigates first covered the story about Timber Roberts and his family in September.
The government filed new documents ahead of Timber's sentencing on Monday, providing more insight into why they went undercover to arrest him and his family.
As the family faces federal charges, Timber's brother Brooks filed a $50 million tort claim against the government because of the way officers handled the arrest.
Dressed in plain clothes Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) agents went undercover at a trailhead in Adams County in May to take the Roberts into custody. But things didn't go as planned and officers shot Brooks multiple times.
His attorneys accuse the agencies of "needlessly and recklessly" shooting him as part of a "pointless and wildly dangerous ruse operation." Their tort claim accuses law enforcement of illegally targeting Brooks because he was homeless.
The FBI is investigating that police shooting.
For the first time in publicly available court records, the U.S. Attorney's Office explains some of the logic behind federal officers' undercover operation to arrest the Roberts. An assistant U.S. attorney for Idaho filed a sentencing memorandum on Monday, a week before Timber Roberts faces his fate.
Court records show Timber took a plea deal, pleading guilty to four misdemeanors: camping on BLM lands for longer than allowed; threatening, intimidating or interfering with a forest officer; assault on a federal officer; camping on forest service lands longer than allowed.
The feds claimed Timber, Brooks and their mom Judy enjoyed living off the grid and used their money to make their stay on public lands more comfortable, buying an AC unit, fridge, bus, solar panels, a boat and even a hot tub.
But the attorney representing Brooks in his civil suit against the federal government told 7 Investigates this summer that the family had nowhere else to go.
"They ended up trying to survive in what they had left, which was their vehicles," Brooks' attorney Ritchie Eppink said. "Had Brooks and his family had any other choice but to be where they were, they would have been there."
It wasn't just the family's accumulation of stuff that led to their arrest. The government said Timber threatened violence and intimidated anyone who got in his way.
So federal officers charged the family with more crimes and got warrants for their arrest - unbeknownst to the family's attorneys. That leads us to the events of May 19.
The sentencing memo states: "When considering how to effectuate the safe arrest of Defendant and his family, law enforcement considered, among other things, Timber Roberts’ past violent and threatening behavior, his disdain for authority and law enforcement, the propensity for him and his family to lose their cool, and the known fact that the Roberts family kept weapons in their trailers."
Authorities came up with a ruse to draw Timber out of the family's trailer at the West Face Trailhead outside McCall and arrest him first since he was the most mobile one of the family.
Plainclothes officers pretended their truck was dead, knocked on the family's trailer to ask for a jump, and planned to arrest Timber once he came out.
The government's memo says the officers revealed their law enforcement badges, told Timber they had a warrant and that he was under arrest. You can't hear officers explicitly say who they are in a responding officer's body camera video submitted to the public record, but you can see their badges very clearly.
Former U.S. Attorney of Idaho, Wendy Olson, tells 7 Investigates that it's best practice for law enforcement to identify themselves so people comply. And showing a badge is enough. But this was an unusual set of circumstances and it was Timber's brother Brooks who wasn't clear about who they were.
Timber yelled for his brother to help as he resisted arrest. In the body camera video, you see Brooks come out of the trailer and wheel toward Timber. He immediately pointed his gun at the undercover officers and two seconds later police shot Brooks at least 11 times.
"The plainclothes officers didn't announce themselves as law enforcement. Brooks wheeled out carrying a revolver with him but what he didn't know was there were cops surrounding the whole scene. So they opened fire," Eppink told 7 Investigates in September.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says Timber's actions led to the police shooting that "threatened the lives of law enforcement and his family" and he should be sentenced accordingly. They say he has a serious disregard for the law and asked a district judge to sentence him to six months in prison followed by three years of probation, as well as ban him from camping or living on Forest Service and BLM lands.
Federal court records show Brooks and Judy took plea deals in their criminal cases recently. Brooks pleaded guilty to improperly disposing of garbage on BLM lands and occupying a developed recreation site for purposes other than recreation. He will be sentenced in January.
Judy pleaded guilty to camping on forest lands for longer than allowed. Her change of plea hearing is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 30.
Brooks' civil case is still going on, with his attorneys saying the government response to the family's situation was counterproductive over the last three years, and way out of proportion for a family trying to survive poverty.
KTVB’s award winning investigative team reports on local, crime, and breaking news across Idaho.
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