Iowa Woman Who Vandalized Pipeline Released After Six Years
Reznicek Faces Probation and Heavy Restitution
After several years in prison for vandalizing the Dakota Access Pipeline during the 2016 and 2017 protests, a woman from Des Moines, Iowa, is free.
Jessica Reznicek, 44, was released from a federal prison in Minnesota and now lives in a Des Moines halfway house. She had pleaded guilty and received an eight-year prison sentence for conspiracy to damage an energy facility with a terrorism enhancement.
Her sentence followed a wave of protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline, which runs from North Dakota to Illinois and crosses several Midwestern states, including areas near Oklahoma.
Details of the Crime
Reznicek and another woman vandalized a sign at the Iowa Utilities Commission office in 2017. They admitted in court to damaging sections of the pipeline with an oxy-acetylene cutting torch. The two also set fires near pipeline instruments and equipment in Mahaska, Boone, and Wapello Counties in Iowa.
Federal prosecutors said the vandalism endangered lives and disrupted energy infrastructure. The case sparked national attention, as it tested how far environmental protest actions could go before crossing into criminal territory.
Probation and Restitution Challenges
Reznicek now faces probation and must pay $3 million in restitution. Frank Cordaro of the Catholic Worker House in Des Moines, who has long supported her, spoke with Radio Iowa after picking her up from prison.
“She has two more years to do. They’re cutting off two full years of the eight years, so she’ll end up doing six years,” Cordaro said. “The halfway house will keep her until she’s ready to transition to home arrest with an ankle bracelet.”
Cordaro acknowledged that the restitution amount is unrealistic. “That’s just not going to get paid, not through the halfway house employment or through the rest of her life. But what she deals with now is paying what they take from her, whatever paycheck she gets at a minimum wage job,” he added.
Oklahoma Context and Broader Impact
The Dakota Access Pipeline’s controversy still resonates in energy-producing states like Oklahoma, where debates continue over the balance between environmental activism and energy infrastructure development.
The case highlights how far some activists go to protest fossil fuel projects and how federal prosecutors pursue energy-related sabotage cases under terrorism enhancements.
SOURCE: Radio Iowa–Rewritten by Oklahoma Energy Today for clarity