Illinois man pleads guilty in Planned Parenthood clinic fire

A central Illinois man has pleaded responsible to setting fireplace to a Deliberate Parenthood clinic final month, the U.S. legal professional’s workplace mentioned Friday.

Tyler W. Massengill, 32, of Chillicothe admitted to setting fireplace to the Peoria clinic with an explosive on Jan. 15, two days after Illinois authorised expansive reproductive well being care laws aimed toward defending abortion sufferers and suppliers.

Massengill, who pleaded responsible Thursday, is in jail awaiting sentencing scheduled for July 6 on the federal courthouse in Peoria. He faces as much as 20 years in jail and a superb of $250,000, in accordance with the U.S. legal professional’s workplace.

Safety cameras caught him approaching the constructing with a bottle, lighting a rag on one finish of it, smashing a window and placing the incendiary machine inside earlier than rapidly fleeing on foot. No sufferers or employees have been inside.

When Massengill was arrested on Jan. 24, he advised investigators that he set fireplace to the constructing as a result of he was reminded of an abortion his ex-girlfriend had three years in the past, in accordance with the prison criticism.

A lawyer for Massengill didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

The Molotov cocktail-induced blaze brought about greater than $1 million in harm, in accordance with Jennifer Welch, president and CEO of Deliberate Parenthood of Illinois.

“We’re extraordinarily happy Tyler Massengill has pleaded responsible to setting our Peoria well being middle on fireplace and that there’s a fast decision to the case,” Welch mentioned Friday. “Nevertheless, the actual fact nonetheless stays that the Peoria group has been robbed of equitable entry to reproductive heath care till we are able to rebuild.”

Deliberate Parenthood of Illinois spokesperson Mary Jane Maharry mentioned that the Peoria clinic continues to be closed and “will not be open for a number of months.”

In response to the prison criticism, Massengill advised investigators he thought that if his actions brought about “slightly delay” in a affected person receiving providers on the well being middle, it might have been “all price it.”

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