Fear the Drag Queens!
Far-Right ‘Mama Bear’ Accused of Wild Plot Against Old Pal
An Iowa mom mostly known for her vocal stance against
and who recently went on a public rant about drag performers was arrested on Friday after allegedly filing a false report of sexual abuse within her former business partner’s family.
Along the way, any remnants of a once-formidable alliance between women at the vanguard of far-right activism went up in flames.
, the 39-year-old who founded the controversial activist group Iowa Mama Bears, was arrested on Friday morning on seven misdemeanor charges after allegedly making at least two calls to the Department of Human Resources against the family of Emily Peterson.
On those calls, according to criminal complaints obtained by The Daily Beast, Reicks falsely claimed Peterson’s husband broke their daughter’s phone—and that the Petersons’ teenage son was sexually abusing a sibling. The complaint says that in the last call on Aug. 9, Reicks “claimed to be a neighbor” who was informed of the sexual abuse allegations by her own son, who, in turn, supposedly heard about them from a child victim in the Peterson family.
In reality, prosecutors state, Reicks does not have a son by the name she told DHS—and “lives on the opposite side of town” as her former partner’s family.
“Their children had not been in contact for a couple of months at this time,” the complaint said.
Prosecutors say that the call was made shortly after Peterson texted Reicks’ husband “about a lockbox key.” This allegedly prompted Reicks to text her former business partner—and accuse her of having an affair with her husband.
The criminal complaint notes that another anonymous call to DHS was placed “shortly after” Peterson “ended her business relationship” with Reicks in May, “causing her to be very upset.”
The shocking allegations against Reicks come over a year after she and Peterson made a name for themselves in far-right communities for outspoken activism against mask mandates in schools. Describing themselves as the “
,” the pair
, an event that
, according to Politifact. (Reicks denied being a QAnon adherent.) During the conference, Reicks held up a sign with a picture of her daughter’s face on it with the caption, “My