FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CR MONDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 1996 (202) 616-2777 TDD (202) 514-1888 KANSAS WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO SETTING FIRES AT TWO VIRGINIA WOMEN'S HEALTH CLINICS WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A Wichita, Kansas woman pleaded guilty today to setting fire to two abortion clinics in the Norfolk, Virginia area, the Justice Department announced. Jennifer Patterson Sperle, 24, entered a plea of guilty before the U.S. District Court in Norfolk. Last March, Sperle was indicted on criminal charges for conspiring to commit arson at two women's health clinics--the Peninsula Medical Center for Women in Newport News and the Tidewater Women's Health Center in Norfolk. "Today's case underscores our continuing effort to ensure that women have access to health clinics around the country," said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Deval L. Patrick. On December 13, 1994, Spearle placed a lit flare through the mail slot at the Peninsula Medical Center for Women. On March 6, 1996, she broke a window at the Tidewater Clinic, poured two gallons of kerosene throughout the clinic, and set it afire. No one was harmed in the incidents. Sperle faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. In May, Clark Ryan Martin, Spearle's co-defendant in the case, pleaded guilty to the same charges. Spearle is scheduled to be sentenced on February 10, and Martin's sentence will follow. The case was prosecuted by the Department's Criminal and Civil Rights Divisions and investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Norfolk Police Department. # # # 96-539