KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Kansas City woman waived indictment and pleaded guilty in federal court last week for knowingly possessing unregistered destructive devices, according to the United State’s Attorney.
Dara S. O’Connor, 30, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Bough to one count of knowingly possessing two destructive devices that were not registered in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record.
According to court documents, on Feb. 12, 2026, O’Connor attempted to destroy by fire a warehouse located on Botts Road in Kansas City, Mo. Prior media reporting had indicated that the federal government attempted to purchase the warehouse. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) wanted to utilize the real estate to house illegal aliens during the adjudication of their removal proceedings. That real estate transaction, however, did not occur. News agencies were at the scene of the warehouse reporting on the fact that the real estate transaction did not go through when they observed and video recorded O’Connor approach the building. O’Connor threw two incendiary devices, colloquially known as Molotov cocktails, at the building. The incendiary devices had cloth wicks that were not lit when O’Connor threw the incendiary devices. After multiple attempts at throwing the incendiary devices at the building, both bottles shattered, and the flammable liquid contained in the devices spread over the surface of the building. O’Connor then used fire to ignite the flammable liquid that was on the building, which started a fire. O’Connor then attempted to spread the fire by squeezing a bottle that contained an accelerant which caused the accelerant to spray out of the bottle and spread the fire…