Four people have been indicted on federal charges tied to clashes with federal officers in Minneapolis, including a woman accused of biting off an immigration officer’s fingertip, according to sworn statements and federal charging documents filed in the cases.
Prosecutors said federal agents were investigating an Immigration Customs Enforcement shooting on Jan. 14 when protesters made the area unsafe and the agents had to flee on foot, leaving behind two vehicles. According to the documents, the vehicles were vandalized and broken into, and several items were stolen, including guns, FBI identification cards and documents with addresses, phone numbers and other personal information tied to some FBI employees.
The charging documents said that personal information was later posted on social media. Prosecutors then tied the leak to a subsequent series of threatening communications directed at FBI employees, describing threatening phone calls, text messages and emails.
In a separate case focused on a protest confrontation, Claire Louise Feng, 27, of St. Paul, Minnesota, was indicted on a federal charge of assaulting a federal officer resulting in injury. The indictment stems from a Jan. 24 protest that followed the Jan. 14 shooting and killing of Alex Pretti, prosecutors said.
According to an affidavit filed in Feng’s case, Homeland Security Investigations special agent Bronson Day described an immigration officer attempting to arrest another protester when Feng allegedly tackled the officer. Day wrote that a Customs and Border Protection officer took Feng to the ground and was trying to secure her arms when Feng bit the officer’s finger through a glove.
Day wrote that the officer did not immediately realize the severity of the injury because it was very cold, but that when the officer removed the glove, he realized the tip of his ring finger had been removed, exposing the bone. Day said the officer was able to get medical attention within an hour.
Feng’s attorney, Kevin C. Riach, said she plans to fight the charge. Riach said in a statement that “All you have to do to assess the credibility of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents when they make allegations like this is to look at yesterday’s dismissal that confirmed ICE agents have made false allegations against a defendant,” adding, “We look forward to fighting this case and clearing Ms. Feng’s name.”
Prosecutors also indicted Brenna Marie Doyle, 18, of Spokane, Washington, charging her with threatening to murder a federal law enforcement officer and threatening to murder that officer’s family member, along with interstate transmission of a threat to injure a person. The indictment alleges that Doyle left voice messages on an FBI agent’s phone threatening to kill the agent and the agent’s spouse and child.
Doyle has not entered a plea, and her attorney, Robert D. Richman, said the defense is waiting to receive evidence from the government. Richman also said Doyle lives in Washington state and has never been to Minnesota, adding that, as described by the defense, “There is no allegation that she took any steps whatsoever to carry out any of these threats or come within a thousand miles of the agent.”
In the threats case involving text messages, prosecutors indicted James Patrick Lyons, 45, of California on five counts of interstate transmission of threats to injure a person, and indicted Jose Alberto Ramirez, 29, of Illinois on one count. The government alleged both men sent threatening text messages to FBI employees.
Neither Ramirez’s nor Lyons’s attorney immediately responded to requests for comment, and neither defendant has had the opportunity to enter a plea.
Boone reported from Boise, Idaho.