MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Four people have been indicted on federal charges stemming from confrontations with federal officers in Minneapolis, including a woman accused of biting off the fingertips of an immigration officer.
Three others are accused of threatening FBI agents after documents containing their personal information were stolen from a vehicle.
FBI agents are investigating a Jan. 14 shooting by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after protests made the area unsafe and they had to flee on foot, leaving behind two vehicles, according to sworn statements filed in the cases. The vehicles were vandalized and broken into, and items were stolen, including firearms, FBI identification cards and documents that included addresses, phone numbers and other personal information for some FBI employees.
The personal information was then posted on social media, and that’s when officers began receiving threatening phone calls, text messages and emails, according to court documents.
Woman accused of biting off immigration officer’s fingertip
Claire Louise Feng, 27, is accused of biting off the fingertips of a Homeland Security Investigations agent during a protest on Jan. 24 after immigration officers shot and killed Alex Pretti. Feng, of St. Paul, Minnesota, is charged with assaulting a federal officer causing 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 grabbed him. A Customs and Border Protection officer pushed Feng to the ground and tried to protect her arm, but Feng bit the officer’s finger through his glove, Day wrote.
It was cold and the officer didn’t immediately realize the severity of the injury, but when the officer took off his gloves, he realized the tip of his ring finger had been removed, exposing the bone, Day wrote. Day wrote that he received medical attention within an hour.
Feng’s attorney, Kevin C. Riach, said she would fight the charge.
“When ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents make these types of accusations, all you have to do is evaluate their credibility and look at yesterday’s dismissal, which confirmed that ICE agents made false accusations against the defendants,” Riach said. “We look forward to winning this case and exonerating Ms. Feng.”
3 people indicted for threatening FBI agents
Brenna Marie Doyle, 18, of Spokane, Wash., was indicted Thursday on charges of threatening to murder a federal law enforcement officer, threatening to murder the family of a federal law enforcement officer and communicating interstate a threat to harm another person. The indictment alleges that she left voice messages on the phones of FBI agents threatening to kill them, their spouses and children.
Doyle has not yet entered a plea, and her attorney, Robert D. Richman, said they are awaiting evidence from the government so they can 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 came within a thousand miles of an agent,” Richman said.
James Patrick Lyons, 45, of California, was indicted on five counts of interstate communication of threats to injure another person, and Jose Alberto Ramirez, 29, of Illinois, was indicted on one count of the same count. Two people are accused of sending threatening text messages to FBI employees.
Attorneys for Ramirez and Lyon did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment. Neither man was given a chance to enter a plea.
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Boone reported from Boise, Idaho.
