One person has been charged in the masked raid on a Gogebic Taconite (GTAC) exploratory drill site last week.
The Iron County district attorney is charging Katie Kloth of Stevens Point with four criminal counts of robbery, theft, damage to property and being a party to a crime. District Attorney Marty Lipske can’t comment on the charges because the case is pending, but the Iron County Sheriff’s Department was investigating two people in the June 11 daytime action.
About 15 people emerged from the woods of Iron County that morning. The report says they yelled obscenities at drill workers and even threatened to burn down their houses.
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About $2,000 in damage was done to a drill rig lever and to a GTAC geologist’s cell phone. The protesters escaped back into the woods before law enforcement could arrive. This action was in contrast to the otherwise peaceful walks and demonstrations held by anti-mine protesters up to this point.
A preliminary hearing for Kloth is set for July 8. No arrest has been made.
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