Activist Sentenced for Sexual Crimes, Sparks Legislative Debate
A man identifying as a Native American activist received a 46-year prison sentence for drugging and raping women, prompting discussions on potential legal reforms in Washington state. The case highlights concerns about defendants representing themselves and directly questioning their victims.
Redwolf Pope, who maintained residences in Seattle and Santa Fe, New Mexico, was apprehended in 2018. Videos from his iPad, given to police by visitors to his Seattle apartment, revealed him assaulting several unconscious women, as detailed in court filings. Authorities also discovered a concealed camera in Pope’s bathroom, used to secretly film women showering.
Erica Elan, one of the survivors who found the hidden cameras and incriminating footage, expressed her distress: “I’ve had the horror of witnessing the scale of violence Pope inflicted on multiple women over many years. It will never leave me,” she stated in a news release.
Pope, 49, was convicted of rape and voyeurism by a Santa Fe jury in 2020 and received a four-year prison sentence, having already served over two years. He argued that the encounter was consensual.
Following his release, Pope faced extradition to Washington state on charges from incidents in 2016 and 2017. During his trial in September, he represented himself and questioned one of his victims over several days, maintaining a not-guilty plea.
The jury reached a guilty verdict on September 3, 2025.
Survivors are urging the Washington State Legislature to amend laws allowing self-represented defendants to cross-examine their victims. They advocate for updates to the Crime Victim Bill of Rights, suggesting accusers should be questioned by court-appointed representatives instead of their alleged perpetrators.
Elan emphasized the need for change: “We must refine the outdated systems that cause further harm to survivors in their pursuit of justice.”
Pope, who has claimed Western Shoshone and Tlingit heritage, served as an activist and spokesperson for the Seattle-based United Indians of All Tribes Foundation. His LinkedIn profile notes a legal career with the Tulalip Tribal Court for over ten years. However, his credentials and ancestry faced scrutiny post-arrest. While Pope holds a law degree from Seattle University, he is not a licensed lawyer according to the Washington State Bar Association, and the Tulalip Tribes confirmed he never worked as an attorney there.
Several tribes have questioned his claimed heritage, with no records found of Pope’s membership in any specific tribe.
Abigail Echo-Hawk, executive vice president of the Seattle Indian Health Board and advocate for Native women’s rights, criticized Pope’s actions: “Pope created a false identity and posed as a Native man to infiltrate Native communities and prey upon our Indigenous women.”
Echo-Hawk, a national leader in addressing the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls crisis, remarked on the prolonged trauma Pope inflicted, stating he “was allowed to take advantage of our legal system and continue to traumatize his victims for years after.”
