Facebook photos of Oregon refuge occupiers Jon Ritzheimer and Ryan Payne visiting the Bundy ranch in Nevada during the holiday break without permission have landed both in hot water.

A federal pretrial services officer in Oregon spotted the photos posted on Ritzheimer's Facebook page and alerted U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown in Portland just before the new year.

The judge, as a result, has moved up Ritzheimer's date to surrender to prison, from Feb. 15 to Jan. 12, and she made it clear that Ritzheimer must have no contact with any named defendant in either the Oregon or Nevada standoff cases before he starts his prison sentence.

The judge ordered Payne to return to home detention in Las Vegas.

Payne and Ritzheimer both pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy in the 2016 armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon. Ritzheimer was sentenced to a year and a day in prison.

Payne awaits sentencing in Oregon. He faces other federal charges in Nevada with Cliven Bundy and two of Bundy's sons, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, in the 2014 standoff near the Bundy ranch when officers tried to round up Bundy cattle trespassing on public land after decades of unpaid grazing fees and fines.

Pretrial services Officer Nick Nischik discovered the photos of Ritzheimer and Payne at the ranch, including one of them posing with Ritzheimer's wife and Payne's fiancee at the nearby Toquop Wash beneath Interstate 15 where the April 12, 2014, confrontation occurred between Bundy supporters and federal officers.

Nischik was concerned that the photos revealed the two had violated their release conditions, and sent them to the judge.

Ritzheimer had a "no-travel restriction'' on his Oregon release that required him to remain in Arizona pending his surrender to prison except as necessary to travel to Oregon for court. Ritzheimer was granted permission to travel to Las Vegas to stay at an Airbnb to celebrate his wedding anniversary on Dec. 22 and 23, but he wasn't given permission to visit the Bundy residence, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, according to the court.

In fact, in Ritzheimer's request to be allowed to travel to Las Vegas for his anniversary, he wrote to his Arizona release officer, "I will not be going to the trial or federal courthouse to see the Bundy's (sic) if that's what you're thinking. Just wanna to (sic) make that clear.''

Ritzheimer also had a restriction against posting to social media except to promote his motorcycle repair business.

Ritzheimer said he met up with Payne while in Las Vegas, who invited him to the Bundy residence. Ritzheimer said he wasn't aware he was prevented from having contact with co-defendants and apologized to the court.

Before the Facebook photos were discovered, Ritzheimer's defense lawyer had asked the judge to ease his social media restrictions, noting his plan to run for Congress in Arizona. Yet, with the new date to surrender to prison, Ritzheimer has dropped that plan and instead will just prepare for prison, his wife posted on her Facebook page.

Once the mistrial was declared in Nevada on Dec. 20, Brown granted Payne permission to travel home to Montana over the Christmas and New Year's holidays to visit his children. He wasn't granted permission to visit the Bundy ranch, Brown noted in an email obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive.

"I certainly did not intend to authorize his travel more than 80 miles from the Las Vegas Courthouse to the Bundy Ranch for social purposes,'' the judge wrote.

"I am concerned that defendants have taken advantage of this court's release accommodations in their favor,'' she wrote.

Brown determined that assertions by Ritzheimer's and Payne that they didn't think their visit to the Bundy Ranch violated their release conditions "were incorrect, but debatable in the context of overlapping release conditions from both the District of Nevada and the District of Oregon.'' She said she decided to address the allegations informally and not through formal proceedings.

Payne must remain at the approved residence in Las Vegas and leave only to go to and from court, his lawyers' offices, church or medical or treatment services.

Brown ordered him not to return to the Bundy ranch or "engage in social activities with his co-defendants."

If Nevada's U.S. District Judge Gloria M. Navarro dismisses the Nevada case with prejudice, meaning the government can't retry the Bundys and Payne, Payne is to surrender immediately to U.S. marshals in Nevada for a hearing to determine whether he'll be detained or released pending his sentencing in the Oregon refuge occupation case, Brown ordered.

If Navarro rules that the Nevada case can be retried, Payne may remain on release subject to home detention, Brown wrote.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian