Biography
Member of the Earth Liberation Front "The Family" cell — the Pacific Northwest ELF/ALF affiliation responsible for a series of arsons across Oregon, Washington, California, Wyoming, and Colorado from 1996 to 2001 totaling roughly $40 million in damage. Convicted in the federal Operation Backfire prosecution that broke open in 2005 after cooperator Jacob Ferguson wore a wire. Cooperated with the government after arrest, receiving a substantially reduced sentence; participated specifically in the May 21, 2001 arson at the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture, which had been incorrectly targeted as a hub of GMO poplar research. Kolar — a Seattle-based computer-vision researcher at the time — was sentenced on July 18, 2008 to 60 months in federal prison, five years of supervised release, and $7,178,236 in restitution. The UW Horticulture fire she helped set was the largest single arson loss in the Operation Backfire series.
Sentencing and custody chronology
The July 18, 2008 sentencing announcement confirms the sentence and restitution already in the case record; the biography’s May date and rounded restitution have been corrected. It says Kolar remained out of custody pending a later Bureau of Prisons reporting order, anticipated for late September. That forecast does not establish an actual admission day. Age 33 at this announcement implies a 1974–1975 birth-year window, not a verified exact birth date; no birth-date field is inferred.
