A federal grand jury indicted four suspected members of an anti-government activist group on terrorism-related felonies for their alleged involvement in a thwarted bombing plot targeting various businesses across Los Angeles.
Audrey Illeene Carroll, Zachary Aaron Page, Dante James Anthony-Gaffield, and Tina Cheng-Ting Lai are facing charges of providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, plus possession of unregistered firearms, according to the six-count indictment returned on Tuesday.
Carroll and Page, the alleged orchestrators of the operation, were also charged with one count of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.
The charges “reflect the seriousness of the conduct: a planned terrorist attack on American soil on New Year’s Eve,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a press release. “If convicted, this group of self-professed left-wing radicals will face decades in federal prison.”
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“We will continue to investigate and prosecute any and all terror groups and bring them to justice,” Essayli added.
The co-defendants allegedly belong to the Turtle Island Liberation Front, a cohort of pro-Palestinian and Native American activists seeking to reclaim “stolen land,” specifically Turtle Island, an indigenous name for North America, from so-called “colonist settlers.” TILF’s members similarly believe that native Palestinians have been driven out of their “occupied” homeland.
According to images included in the criminal complaint, posters found at Carroll’s residence said “Death to America” and “Long Live Turtle Island and Palestine.”
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Carroll, codename “Black Moon” and “Asiginaak,” is accused of crafting an eight-page, handwritten document, titled “Operation Midnight Sun,” that outlined TILF’s plan to target multiple “marks” across Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve.
New Year’s Eve was chosen as an opportune time to detonate the bombs simultaneously, as the fireworks were intended to mask the sound of the explosions.
According to federal officials, when detonated, the coordinated bombings were designed to “completely pulverize” their intended targets, which included technology and logistics companies with offices in Southern California.
In addition to five identified targets, more “marks” could have been targeted “if enough comrades” assembled, according to an operational blueprint intercepted by the FBI. According to probable cause statements, the suspects conspired to target Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and vehicles, intending to “take some of them out and scare the rest of them.”
Carroll allegedly recruited Page, Anthony-Gaffield, and Lai after devising the attack plan, and they communicated through an encrypted Signal chat called “Order of the Black Lotus.”
According to authorities, the defendants procured bomb-making materials throughout December to build and then test improvised explosive devices in the Mojave Desert on Dec. 12, including by obtaining potassium nitrate, sulfur, charcoal powder, and PVC pipes.
Officials said federal officers apprehended the suspects at the scene of the testing site before they could make functional bombs. The suspects “all brought bomb-making components to the campsite,” an FBI affidavit alleged.
All four suspected co-conspirators remain in federal custody without bond. Their arraignments are scheduled in January.
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If convicted, Carroll and Page could face up to life in federal prison, while Gaffield and Lai would be subject to a statutory maximum sentence of 25 years behind bars.
Micah James Legnon, another alleged member of TILF, was arrested by federal authorities in New Iberia, Louisiana, while allegedly stockpiling weapons, gathering tactical gear, and transporting firearms in preparation for a separate attack targeting ICE.