By January 24, 2017 at 1:55 PM
Scott Willingham, who was convicted of taking FBI surveillance cameras from a utility pole outside the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, violated the terms of his probation by using the drug Spice at the federal halfway house where he was placed.
Willingham admitted the violation Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown and said his use of the drug twice at the federal center was due to "repeated exposure'' and "repeated peer pressure.'' Spice is the street name for synthetic substances that mimic the effects of marijuana.
Scott WillinghamMCSO
Willingham, 49, said he took responsibility and vowed he wouldn't make the same mistake again.
"I became complacent,'' he said. "I justified in my own mind the self-gratifying behavior was OK.''
Willingham was kicked out of the residential re-entry center in Portland on Jan. 2 because of the drug use and won't be allowed back for 30 days. He's been in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service at Multnomah County's Inverness Jail since.
The judge agreed to continue Willingham's probation at the halfway house but ordered a full substance abuse evaluation. The center will allow him back on Feb. 2. His time in custody will serve as his sanction for the violation, Brown said.
Willingham was part of the security team during the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
In May, Willingham pleaded guilty to taking or converting government-owned cameras for his own use outside the refuge in Harney County. In September, Brown sentenced Willingham to six months in prison, but he received credit for the time he had already served since his arrest in mid-March.
He was ordered to move to a residential treatment facility for up to four months under the plea deal and remain on probation for two years.
Since his sentencing four months ago, Willingham obtained a driver's license and was working. He plans to continue working when he returns to the halfway house and try to get a commercial driver's license, his defense lawyer Ruben Iniguez said.
Willingham quit his job as an apartment maintenance man in Colorado and went to the federal bird sanctuary after randomly spotting a YouTube video about the refuge occupiers. Willingham drove to the refuge and stayed about three weeks, leaving several days before the Jan. 26 fatal shooting by police of occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum.
Willingham was never charged in the larger conspiracy case stemming from the Jan. 2 refuge takeover, but was the 27th person to face a federal indictment in the 41-day refuge occupation.
-- Maxine Bernstein
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