Woman sentenced for Washington railroad track sabotage

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — A woman has been sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison for sabotaging railroad tracks near the U.S.-Canada border in Washington state just before a train carrying crude oil was due to pass through. Ellen Brennan Reiche of Bellingham was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle for committing an act of violence against a railroad carrier. She was convicted in September for placing a device that interferes with train signals on the tracks apparently as part of a campaign to protest construction of a pipeline across British Columbia. Her co-defendant, Samantha Brooks, pleaded guilty in July to a terrorist attack and violence against a railroad carrier.