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2h ago

Beekeeper Who Released Bees at Eviction Gets Six Months After Misdemeanor Convictions

The case now sits on appeal, with most of the six-month term credited to time she already served.

In an image from the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, a sheriff’s deputy tries to wrestle a tower of beehives away from Rebecca Woods as the deputies sought to serve an eviction notice in Longmeadow, Mass., Oct. 12, 2022.
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Rebecca Woods was found guilty of four counts of simple Assault and Battery and two counts of reckless assault after she unleashed bees on police officers in October 2022.

Overview

  • A Hampden County jury in April 2026 convicted Rebecca Rorie Woods of four counts of simple assault and battery and two counts of reckless assault, leading to a six-month county jail sentence.
  • Jurors rejected seven felony charges that prosecutors brought and found she used live beehives to assault deputies during a 2022 Longmeadow eviction captured on video.
  • Deputies and sheriff’s staff were stung multiple times, one was hospitalized, and officials said thousands of bees died after hive boxes were opened and toppled.
  • Woods says she tried to delay officers so an about-80-year-old homeowner undergoing cancer treatment at a $1.9 million property could seek a court stay of eviction.
  • She fled before trial in 2025 and was arrested at a Tennessee motel, spent months in custody before extradition, and her lawyer says that time will likely cover most of the new sentence.