MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Four people have been indicted on federal charges stemming from fights with federal officers in Minneapolis, including one woman who is accused of biting an immigration officer’s fingertips.
The other three were charged in connection with threats made to FBI agents after documents containing the agents’ personal information were stolen from a vehicle.
According to affidavits filed in those cases, FBI agents were investigating the shooting of an Immigration Enforcement Officer on Jan. 14 when protests made the area unsafe and they had to flee on foot, leaving two of their vehicles behind. Vehicles were vandalized and broken into, and various items were stolen including guns, FBI identification cards and documents that included addresses, phone numbers and other personal information of some FBI employees.
That personal information was then posted on social media, according to Court documents, and that’s when the officers started receiving threatening phone calls, text messages and emails.
Woman accused of biting an immigration officer’s finger
Claire Louise Feng, 27, is accused of biting the fingertips of a special agent from Homeland Security Investigations during a January 24 protest that occurred after immigration officers shot and killed Alex Pretti. Feng, who is from St. Paul, Minnesota, was indicted on a charge of assaulting a federal officer resulting in injury.
In an affidavit filed in the case, Homeland Security Investigations special agent Bronson Day said an immigration officer was trying to arrest another protester when Feng confronted the officer. A Customs and Border Protection officer took Feng to the ground and was trying to secure her hand when Feng bit the officer’s finger through a glove, Day wrote.
The day was very cold and the officer did not immediately notice the severity of the wound, Day wrote, but when the officer removed his glove, he realized that the tip of his ring finger had been removed, exposing the bone. He was able to get medical attention within an hour, Day wrote.
Feng’s lawyer, Kevin C. Riach, said he will fight the charge.
“All you have to do to assess the credibility of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents when they make allegations like this is look at yesterday’s dismissal that confirmed ICE agents made false allegations against a defendant,” Riach said. “We look forward to fighting this case and clearing Ms. Feng’s name.”
3 people charged with threats to FBI agents
Brenna Marie Doyle, 18, of Spokane, Washington, was indicted Thursday on charges of threatening to kill a federal law enforcement officer, threatening to kill a family member of a federal law enforcement officer and interstate transmission of a threat to injure a person. The indictment alleges that she left voice messages on the FBI agent’s phone threatening to kill them and their spouses and children.
Doyle has not yet entered a plea, and her attorney Robert D. Richman said they were waiting to receive evidence from the government so they could evaluate the case. He noted that Doyle lives in Washington state and has never been to Minnesota.
“There is no allegation that she took any steps to carry out any of these threats or come within a thousand miles of the agent,” Richman said.
James Patrick Lyons, 45, of California was charged with five counts of interstate transmission of threats to injure a person, and Jose Alberto Ramirez, 29, of Illinois was charged with the same count. The two men are accused of sending threatening text messages to FBI employees.
Attorneys for Ramirez and Lyons did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Neither man had the opportunity to enter a claim.
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Boone reported from Boise, Idaho.