los angeles — Federal authorities on Monday announced the arrest of four alleged members of an extremist group suspected of planning coordinated New Year’s Eve bomb attacks in Southern California.
Audrey Carroll, Zachary Page, Dante Gaffield, and Tina Lay, all described as members of the anti-capitalist, anti-government group known as the Turtle Island Liberation Front, face charges of conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device in connection with the alleged plot. They were detained last week in Lucerne Valley, near the desert town of Twentynine Palms, California, where a Marine Corps base is located. All four are from the Los Angeles area.
During a press conference on Monday, First Assistant US Attorney Bill Iseley said additional charges were expected to be brought against the group.
According to the criminal complaint, Carroll provided a confidential FBI human source with a handwritten document titled “Operation Midnight Sun” in November, detailing the plot that described their alleged plans to plant backpacks containing explosive devices that would be detonated simultaneously at five locations targeting two U.S. companies at midnight on New Year’s Eve.
“It included step-by-step instructions for making explosive devices… and listed multiple targets in Orange County and Los Angeles,” Al-Asili said.
The handwritten plan stated that the explosive devices would be “sophisticated pipe bombs,” included instructions on how to construct the bombs and included instructions to avoid leaving evidence behind that could be traced back to co-conspirators, the complaint alleges.
Photos of evidence in court documents show a desert camp site with what investigators said were bomb-making materials scattered on plastic folding tables.
The suspects “all brought bomb-making components to the campsite, including various sizes of plastic pipes, suspected potassium nitrate, charcoal, charcoal powder, sulfur powder, and materials to be used as fuses, among other items,” the complaint states.
Agents allegedly placed the group under arrest after they took steps to construct the devices under a tent allegedly intended to protect the materials from the sun.
Carroll and other participants allegedly formed a Signal chat known as the “Order of the Black Lotus,” which they viewed as a “radical” faction of TILF and eventually used to discuss their bomb plot.
During a search of Carroll’s home, investigators discovered posters and materials associated with TILF, including one reading “Death to Ice” and another reading “Death to America, Long Live Turtle Island.” And Palestine.”
This is a developing story.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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