Biography
Ellen Reiche is a Bellingham, Washington environmental and Indigenous solidarity activist convicted for placing a shunting device on BNSF railroad tracks near Bellingham, Washington on November 28, 2020. The sabotage was part of a campaign opposing Trans Mountain and Coastal GasLink pipeline construction across British Columbia in solidarity with Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs. The device disrupted train signals at a moment when a crude oil tanker train was due through the area. Reiche was convicted by jury in September 2021 and sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison plus 3 years supervised release and 100 hours community service. She is a co-defendant with Samantha Brooks.
Ellen Brennan Reiche, age 28, of Bellingham WA, was indicted December 2020 under the federal anti-railroad-violence statute for placing a shunt on BNSF Railway tracks near Bellingham on November 28, 2020 in solidarity with the Wetsuweten pipeline-resistance struggle. Sentenced to 12 months and 1 day federal prison plus 3 years supervised release.
Original charging document and custody limits
Source complaint: The November 30, 2020 complaint (No. 2:20-mj-00764-MAT, Document 1), pages 4–6, describes the November 28 encounter and detention of Reiche and Samantha Brooks near the BNSF tracks; paragraph 12 separately refers to Reiche’s arrest. It does not document a November 27 admission or establish uninterrupted confinement through her later prison release. The unsupported earlier start and its 797-day counter have therefore been cleared, while the documented November 28 arrest and separately sourced later release remain unchanged. Actual initial detention, release on bond and later prison admission require separate records; they must not be combined into an assumed continuous span. This charging document does not supply a conviction, sentence or discharge date.
