Kansas City woman who set fire to planned ICE warehouse pleads to felony charge
A Kansas City woman who admitted to setting fire to a warehouse that federal officials had considered as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center pleaded to a felony charge in federal court Thursday.
Dara S. O’Connor, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly possessing unregistered destructive devices in U.S. District Court in Kansas City. As part of a plea agreement, O’Connor agreed to pay around $43,000 in restitution.
O’Connor is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 10. According to court documents, prosecutors and O’Connor’s attorneys agreed to recommend a prison sentence of between two and five years.
The small fire came just hours after Platform Ventures, the owner of the 920,000-square-foot warehouse, announced on Feb. 12 that it would not move forward with a sale to the federal government. The potential sale drew weeks of criticism earlier this year.
Speaking to The Star on Thursday evening, J.R. Hobbs, one of O’Connor’s attorneys, acknowledged the plea and said O’Connor would be under supervised release ahead of sentencing.
“Through counsel, Ms. O’Connor has been in contact with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and has accepted responsibility in court today with her plea of guilty,” he said.
Hobbs declined to comment beyond a brief statement.
Authorities said O’Connor approached the building on Feb. 12, threw two Molotov cocktails at it and lit the flammable liquid inside on fire. She then attempted to spread the fire using a liquid accelerant, according to court documents. The fire went out after a few minutes.
At the time, news reporters had been at the scene and recorded O’Connor as she threw the devices, according to court documents. After starting the fire, she sat on a nearby curb for a few minutes and then drove off, authorities said.
Prosecutors said Platform Ventures had a loss of around $43,000, which covered “building repair, building cleaning and additional security for the warehouse and certain senior executives of the company.”
This story was originally published May 7, 2026 at 5:40 PM.
