Wyoming woman who set fire to state's only full-service abortion clinic gets 5 years in prison

Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY
Updated ·3 min read
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A Wyoming woman who set fire to the state's only full-service abortion clinic because she said she had nightmares about it and opposed abortion was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday.

Lorna Roxanne Green, 22, pleaded guilty to a federal arson charge earlier this summer and admitted she broke in and set fire to the Casper, Wyoming, clinic in the early morning hours of May 25, 2022. She'll also get three years of probation and have to pay restitution that will be over $280,000, Judge Alan B. Johnson ruled.

Prosecutors and the defense agreed Green should get the mandatory minimum sentence, and she had faced up to 20 years in prison. Johnson said during the sentencing that emotional and physical abuse by Green's parents were part of her childhood.

"You are entitled to your opinions, whatever they may be, but those opinions do not justify in any respect the terror that was caused," Johnson said.

The clinic, Wellspring Health Access, was scheduled to open the month after the fire as the first-of-its-kind health center in years – offering gender-affirming services, OGBYN care and abortions – but the fire set back its opening by nearly a year. Just one other abortion clinic exists in the state, and it offers only pill abortions.

The arson "created a ripple of apprehension and fear across the Casper community," Julie Burkhart, president of Wellspring Health Access, said earlier this year after Green was apprehended.

An arson in May 2022 at Wellspring Health Access in Casper, Wyoming, delayed the reproductive health clinic's opening for about a year. Lorna Roxanne Green pleaded guilty to setting the fire and told investigators she opposed abortion.
An arson in May 2022 at Wellspring Health Access in Casper, Wyoming, delayed the reproductive health clinic's opening for about a year. Lorna Roxanne Green pleaded guilty to setting the fire and told investigators she opposed abortion.

Abortion remains legal in Wyoming while cases challenging new laws go through the courts, including what could be the nation's first explicit ban on abortion pills.

Green is accepting of the sentence, Ryan Semerad, an attorney for Green, said in a statement on Friday.

"Lorna plans to dedicate herself to finding whatever productive employment she can, her education, her faith, and attending to her mental health while she serves her time," Semerad said.

Without addressing specific allegations of abuse, Semerad also said Green's parents, Stephen and Wynette Green, are "heartbroken" about her incarceration but "have been and remain dedicated to their children’s happiness and success in life. Any suggestion or implication to the contrary is inaccurate."

Video showed Green pouring gasoline in clinic

Security cameras showed the suspect, later identified as Green, wearing a dark hoodie, jeans and a surgical mask, according to a criminal complaint obtained by USA TODAY. The footage showed her throwing a rock at glass in a door and entering the building, carrying what looked like trash bags.

She poured gasoline on the floor, and the footage shows her slipping and falling in it, getting her clothes wet with the gasoline. At one point she lowered the surgical mask she wore and her face was visible to a camera.

There was "significant" fire and smoke damage, according to the criminal complaint against Green.

"The fire had engulfed a room and spread to other rooms and down a hallway," the complaint said. Pans of gasoline were found in the building.

The fire in May 2022 at Wellspring Health Access clinic caused "significant" damage, investigators said. The woman who set the fire, Lorna Roxanne Green, pleaded guilty to a felony arson charge.
The fire in May 2022 at Wellspring Health Access clinic caused "significant" damage, investigators said. The woman who set the fire, Lorna Roxanne Green, pleaded guilty to a felony arson charge.

Suspect not arrested for months

Investigators went months without identifying the suspect but received tips after offering a $15,000 reward that identified Green. She was arrested in March, and authorities said they compared what she was wearing in surveillance video to photos she posted on Instagram and that were provided by tipsters. They also matched her car to the one seen on camera.

After her arrest, Green told investigators she set the fire because of her opposition to abortion and because she had nightmares, "which she attributed to her anxiety about the abortion clinic," according to the complaint.

Green said in court when she pleaded guilty that she knew immediately after setting the fire that what she had done was wrong.

"While she deeply regrets her actions, Ms. Green accepts full responsibility for what she has done," Semerad previously told USA TODAY.

Contributing: The Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Wyoming woman gets 5 years in prison for setting abortion clinic fire