Kansas City Woman Gets 2 Years in Prison Over Molotov Cocktail Fire at Warehouse ICE Had Sought for Detention

A Kansas City, Missouri, woman was sentenced Wednesday to two years in federal prison for possessing two unregistered destructive devices that prosecutors say she used to set fire to a warehouse that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had sought to buy for immigration detention.

Dara S. O'Connor, 30, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to 24 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri said. The court also ordered $43,612 in restitution for damage to the building, an amount the office said she had already paid in full under her plea agreement.

O'Connor pleaded guilty on May 7, 2026, to one count of knowingly possessing two destructive devices that were not registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, according to the office.

What Prosecutors Say Happened at the ICE Warehouse

According to the office's account, on Feb. 12, 2026, O'Connor tried to set fire to a warehouse on Botts Road in Kansas City. Prior media reporting had indicated that the federal government tried to buy the building, the release says, and that ICE wanted to use it to house people in the country illegally while their removal cases were decided. The office said the purchase did not happen.

News crews at the site, there to report that the deal had fallen through, saw and recorded O'Connor approaching the building, prosecutors said. According to the release, she threw two bottles described as Molotov cocktails at the building. Their cloth wicks were not lit, and after several throws both bottles shattered and spread flammable liquid on the building's surface.

Prosecutors said O'Connor then lit the liquid, starting a fire, and tried to spread it by squeezing a bottle of accelerant onto the flames. She then sat on a nearby curb and used her phone for a few minutes, according to the release. The fire went out after a few minutes, and she left in her vehicle, the office said.

The release does not describe any injuries.

How the Case Was Handled

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Trey Alford and David Wagner and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Chlarson, and investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department, according to the office.

The charge she pleaded guilty to concerns possession of unregistered destructive devices under federal firearms law. The release does not say whether she faced any other charges, and it does not include a statement from O'Connor or her lawyer.

The Justice Department listed the case as part of Operation Take Back America, which it describes as a nationwide initiative to "repel the invasion of illegal immigration," eliminate cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and "protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime."

Sources: U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Missouri, "Kansas City Woman Receives 24 Months Over Destructive Devices Linked to Planned ICE Warehouse Fire," Oct. 28, 2026 (https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmo/pr/kansas-city-woman-receives-24-months-over-destructive-devices-linked-planned-ice); Cover photo: Charles Evans Whittaker U.S. Courthouse, Kansas City, Mo. (Voidxor, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons).