Daniel Herrera Carbajal
ICT
Federal authorities said Monday they prevented a plot to bomb multiple sites at two U.S. companies on New Year’s Eve of last year in southern California after arresting four alleged members of a “radical” faction of an anti-capitalist and anti-government group.
The four suspects were arrested Friday, Dec. 12, in the Mojave desert east of Los Angeles as they were allegedly preparing to make improvised explosive devices.
In the criminal complaint, the four suspects named are Audrey Illeene Carroll, 30, Zachary Aaron Page, 32, Dante Gaffield, 24, and Tina Lai, 41.
The suspects are allegedly part of a group called the Turtle Island Liberation Front. According to the group’s social media pages, it calls for “liberation through decolonization and tribal sovereignty.”
The term “Turtle Island” is used by some Indigenous people to describe North America. It comes from Indigenous creation stories in which the continent was formed on the back of a giant turtle.
The charges against each suspect include conspiracy and possession of a destructive device.
According to the criminal complaint, in late November Carroll created a detailed plan to bomb five or more business sites of two U.S. companies.
“Carroll’s plan was explicit,” U.S. Assistant Attorney Bill Essayli said during a news conference on Monday. “It included step-by-step instructions to build IEDs.”
The plan included planting backpacks with complex pipe bombs that were set to be detonated simultaneously at midnight on New Year’s Eve according to the criminal complaint.
New Year’s Eve was identified as an opportune time as “fireworks will be going off at this time so explosions will be less likely to be noticed as immediately as any normal day,” according to the complaint.
The handwritten plan, titled “Operation Midnight Sun,” marked five locations with five additional blank slots with the caption “add more if enough comrades,” according to the investigation. The target locations were identified as property and facilities operated by two separate companies that are used or engaged in activities affecting interstate and foreign commerce.
The plan described multiple security measures the members could take to conceal their identities such as using burner phones and “blackbloc,” a tactic used by protestors involving the use of black and concealing clothing like masks.
The plans were discussed both in person and on an encrypted messaging app known as Signal.
When speaking about the New Year’s Eve plot, Lai allegedly asked if there would be any people at the bombing target locations. Caroll responded there wouldn’t be but said if they saw any people, such as a security guard, at any of the locations, they would warn them, according to the investigation.
Photos included in the complaint show a campsite with what investigators said were bomb-making materials spread across plastic folding tables.
According to the investigation, Carroll, Page and Lai all brought bomb-making components to the campsite, including various sizes of PVC pipes, suspected potassium nitrate, charcoal, charcoal powder, sulfur powder, and material to be used as fuses.
Authorities issued search warrants and found posters for the Turtle Island Liberation Front at Carroll’s home that called for “Death to America,” and “Death to ICE,” Essayli said. In Page’s residence, police found a copy of the detailed bomb plan, he added.
The suspects were taken into custody without incident. They were scheduled to appear in court in Los Angeles on the afternoon of Monday, Dec. 15.