A woman has been arrested for skipping her trial three years after she set a swarm of bees on sheriff’s deputies trying to carry out an eviction order, according to officials.
Rorie Susan Woods, 57, missed the start of her court hearing on August 5 of this year for allegedly driving an SUV ‘hauling beehives’ to a home in Massachusetts amid an eviction.
Police found the housing activist two days later – 800 miles away from the trial location, in a hotel in Kingsport, Tennessee, per the Hampden County Sheriff’s Office.
Police said that before the alleged attack in 2022, Woods arrived to the home in a blue Nissan Xterra that was carrying multicolored beehives.
Woods allegedly then removed the lids and agitated the bees, causing them to swarm and sting deputies and bystanders.
She then put on a beekeeper suit and carried another hive toward the home before being taken into custody, officials said.
Some of those who suffered stings were allergic, and one HCSO employee was hospitalized, per authorities.
Woods allegedly said, ‘Oh, you’re allergic? Good,’ as MassLive reported at the time.
Photos from the chaotic scene showed police officers trying to stop Woods from releasing the bees.
Following her arraignment in Tennessee, extradition proceedings will begin to return her to Massachusetts to face trial.
Woods was supposed to appear in a trial after she pleaded guilty to four counts of and battery with a dangerous weapon, three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, and one count of disorderly conduct.
Law enforcement said that she was using the insects to attempt to disturb an eviction that had been ‘stop and go’ for more than a year and a half.
According to Zillow, the home in question in Hadley is 9,563 square feet with seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms. The estimated value is $1.515 million.
Public records show it has been in the custody of one family since 1979.
MassLive reported that Woods is not connected to the home and became an anti-eviction activist after losing her own home to bankruptcy.
‘This woman, who traveled here, put lives in danger as several of the staff on scene are allergic to bees,’ said Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi.
‘We had one staff member go to the hospital and luckily, he was alright or she would be facing manslaughter charges. I support people’s right to protest peacefully, but when you cross the line and put my staff and the public in danger, I promise you will be arrested.’
In 2018, MassLive reported that Woods had been evicted from her own home in Hadley, Massachusetts after a years-long battle.
Woods, who was on disability at the time, said she needed a $10,000 bond to continue the appeal of her eviction.
When the article came out, she was living in a tent on a friend’s property.
Woods told the Massachusetts news outlet that her things were destroyed in storage. She also said she was fighting cancer and that the treatments were interrupted by the eviction.
‘The eviction process has clearly been weaponized by the courts to thwart my appeal, which has every chance of success due to case law precedent,’ Woods said.