Woman Sentenced After Trying To Blow Up Clinic In Champaign: Report

CHAMPAIGN, IL — A woman who pleaded guilty to charges in connection with an attack on a clinic in Champaign was senteced Monday to 14 years in prison, according to WICS.

Emily Claire Hari, of Clarence, pleaded guilty in February to conspiracy to interfere with commerce by threats and violence, attempted arson, unlawful possession of a machine gun, and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon, according to federal authorities.

Hari founded a militia group in 2017 called the Patriot Freedom Fighters that was later known as the White Rabbits, federal officials have said.

In November of 2017, Hari and three coconspirators placed a pipe bomb built by Hari in the building at Women’s Health Practice in Champaign, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Central District of Illinois. The bomb did not ignite and was found by a receptionist at the clinic, who then called police, the news release said.

Hari and coconspirators also tried to light Canadian National Railway tracks on fire near Effingham in January of 2018, and to exort the railway for $190,000 in cryptocurrency, according to the news release.

In December 2020, Hari was convicted in connection with an August 2017 firebombing at a mosque in Minnesota, the news release said, noting Hari was later sentenced to 53 years in prison.