HADLEY — An anti-eviction protester is charged with multiple felonies after allegedly siccing several hives of bees on sheriff’s deputies last week in an act that officials said put lives at risk.
Rorie S. Woods, 55, of 29 Golden Court in Hadley, was arrested last Wednesday outside a house in Longmeadow where protesters had gathered to support a tenant facing eviction, according to the Hampden County sheriff’s office. Springfield District Court records list her first name as Rebecca.
Woods faces four counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (bees), three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon and a disorderly conduct charge. According to court records, she pleaded not guilty at her arraignment and was released without bail. She is due back in court on Dec. 9.
Stephen Newman, Woods’ defense attorney, could not be reached for comment.
Deputies were serving the eviction notice at 49 Memery Lane at around 9:15 a.m. on Oct. 12. According to the sheriff’s office, Woods traveled to the scene towing a trailer stacked with manufactured bee hives and, as soon as she arrived, opened them to release the bees.
“A sheriff’s deputy tried to stop her, but as the agitated bees started getting out and circling the area, he pulled back,” the office said in a statement. Woods “flipped a hive off of the flatbed, making the bees extremely aggressive. They swarmed the area and stung several officers and other innocent bystanders who were nearby.”
Woods, according to the sheriff’s office, then donned “a professional beekeeper suit to protect herself” as she carried another hive, described as a “tower of bees,” to the door of the home “and tried to agitate” them further. That’s when she was arrested and brought to the Western Mass. Regional Women’s Correctional Facility in Chicopee for booking.
During her arrest, a deputy told Woods that several people were allergic to bees, and she allegedly replied, “Oh, you’re allergic? Good.”
Rob Rizzuto, public information officer for the sheriff’s office, said that the harm was not limited to the people on the scene.
“The other tragedy of this is that with honeybees recently being named an endangered species, her actions led to the deaths of hundreds, if not thousands, of them,” Rizzuto said.
“We are always prepared for protests when it comes to evictions, but a majority of the groups who protest understand that we are just doing our statutory duty in accordance with state law,” Sheriff Nick Cocchi said in a statement, adding that he supports the right to peacefully protest.
“But this woman, who traveled here, put lives in danger as several of the staff on scene are allergic to bees. We had one staff member go the hospital and luckily, he was all right or she would be facing manslaughter charges.”
Cocchi said his office’s approach to evictions goes “above and beyond” what is required by law and staff assists evicted people with “anything they need from food and temporary shelter, to long-term housing, employment, and mental health and substance use disorder treatment.”
The office said it never leaves an evicted person homeless or to sleep in a car. That approach, described by the office as humane, was the subject of a December 2020 story in the New York Times that quoted department officials expressing sympathy for the tenants forced out during a pandemic.
“Never in all my years of leading the Hampden County Sheriff’s Civil Process Division have I seen something like this,” said Robert Hoffman, chief deputy of the division. “I’m just thankful no one died because bee allergies are serious. I hope that these out-of-county protesters will reconsider using such extreme measures in the future because they will be charged and prosecuted.”
Brian Steele can be reached at bsteele@gazettenet.com.