Two women who’ve claimed responsibility for vandalizing the Dakota Access Pipeline in Iowa and other states say federal agents raided the Des Moines Catholic Worker House where they’re staying. Alex Cohen is serving as a spokesman for 27-year-old Ruby Montoya and 35-year-old Jessica Reznicek. He says about 30 agents arrived at the home before sunrise.
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Cohen is part the “Mississippi Stand” group that sought to halt the pipeline’s extension from southeast Iowa across the river into Illinois. He was not at the house in Des Moines that was raided, but Cohen says the two women told him were kept on the front porch as agents conducted the search inside.
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On July 24th, Montoya and Reznicek told reporters they were responsible for burning machinery at pipeline construction sites and destroying valves along the completed pipeline in Iowa and South Dakota. The two women then took out crowbars, pried letters off a sign at Iowa Utilities Board headquarters and were arrested for vandalism. Cohen says the two refuse to speak with federal authorities and are waiting to testify in court.
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Both women, who remain free on bond, say they were fighting a “private corporation” and “never threatened human life nor personal property” with their actions.