ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - A Native American activist accused of raping unconscious women and recording the assaults on video has been arrested in Phoenix after police in New Mexico issued a warrant for his arrest, according to online jail records.
Redwolf Pope, a lawyer who has been described as having served as a liaison for elders, veterans and legal representatives during oil pipeline protests in North Dakota two years ago, was taken into custody late Tuesday night by Phoenix police. He was being held at the Maricopa County jail.
An arrest warrant filed Monday in Santa Fe accused Pope of both sexually assaulting females who appeared to have been slipped a date-rape drug and surreptitiously recording guests at apartments in Santa Fe and Seattle. He had residences in both cities, police said.
In a police interview last week, one woman told a Seattle detective that she had known Pope for years and had trusted him in the past because of his standing in her tribe, which is Tlingit.
Pope appeared on “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News in the past to discuss Native American perspectives on Thanksgiving, The Santa Fe New Mexican reported. The show identified his tribal affiliation as being Western Shoshone.
He also delivered a TEDx Talk in Seattle last year about oil pipeline protests at Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota.
He is charged in a criminal complaint in New Mexico with rape, false imprisonment and other crimes. Police in both Seattle and Santa Fe are investigating the case.
His attorney, Amy Sirignano, declined comment on his behalf Wednesday afternoon, saying she had not yet had the opportunity to communicate with him following his arrest.
Police said the Washington state woman interviewed last week had travelled in August 2017 to Santa Fe when she encountered Pope at a party and he offered her a ride. The last thing she remembers from that night was sipping a can of alcoholic iced tea he had given her, she said.
She recalled waking up confused the next morning in a Santa Fe hotel room, and Pope telling her that she had expressed her love for him the night before, which she did not believe.
“Eventually, she knew, she just wanted to get out of there and not deal with it,” the warrant said.
The Associated Press does not identify victims of sexual assault.
Police reviewed roughly two dozen photographs and four videos initially recorded on cameras they obtained after one of Pope’s roommates reported she had found a small video camera in his Seattle apartment’s bathroom. The roommate turned the camera’s memory card over to police after travelling to Santa Fe.
While in Santa Fe, the roommate also found an iPad belonging to Pope that contained videos of him sexually assaulting multiple females who appeared unconscious, police said.
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