4 Rainbow members face criminal charges

Federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges against four members of the Rainbow Family of Living Light, the group that is gathering for a massive July 4 celebration in the Wasatch-Cache National Forest.

Edward James Jenkins, New Orleans, and Ernie Gunnoe, Mantua, Ohio, are each charged in U.S. District Court with one count of assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcers with the U.S. Forest Service. Jenkins, 61, was charged Monday and Gunnoe, 23, on Friday.

The charges stemming from an incident Wednesday are the first felony charges to come from the gathering, which is expected to draw as many as 20,000 people before it ends July 7.

Gunnoe is accused of recruiting a group of people to prevent officers and a tow-truck operator from removing cars that were blocking access to a Forest Service road in the area. Group members had refused to comply with previous requests to move the vehicles, according to court documents.

Gunnoe and several others allegedly began harassing the tow-truck driver and a Forest Service officer. Court documents state that the officer heard Gunnoe "on the camp radio calling for all 'family members' to respond to the location to prevent the vehicles from being towed."

In response to Gunnoe's request, the road was subsequently blocked with logs, boulders and people both standing and sitting in the road, court documents state.

The group also allegedly began throwing rocks, mud and snowballs at the officers. One officer on horseback was struck in the face and the neck and sustained minor injuries, and the window of a patrol vehicle was also broken, court documents state.

Two others, Joshua Ryan Riggenbach and Christopher Cole, face related misdemeanor charges.

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