Overview
- Audrey Illeene Carroll, Zachary Aaron Page, Dante James Anthony-Gaffield, and Tina Lai were charged as alleged members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front and a radical encrypted faction called the Order of the Black Lotus.
- Each defendant faces counts for providing material support to terrorists and possessing unregistered firearms, while Carroll and Page also face a conspiracy-to-use-a-weapon-of-mass-destruction charge carrying a potential life sentence.
- Court filings describe an eight-page plan to strike multiple Southern California businesses on New Year’s Eve, with messages prosecutors say praised violence and rejected leaving digital traces.
- The FBI says the group procured bomb-making materials in early December and was arrested by agents, including the Hostage Rescue Team, during alleged explosive testing in the Mojave Desert before any device was functional.
- All four remain in federal custody without bond, with arraignments set in early to late January, and prosecutors say the plotters also discussed later targeting ICE agents and vehicles.