FBI Foils New Year’s Eve Bomb Plot, Four Charged in Los Angeles

Federal prosecutors and the FBI said on December 15 that four people had been arrested and charged in a plot to detonate improvised explosive devices at five separate locations across Los Angeles and Orange County timed for midnight on New Year’s Eve. The arrests followed a multiagency investigation that federal authorities said prevented what they described as a "massive and horrific terror plot" in the Central District of California.

Court filings and statements identify the defendants as Audrey Illeene Carroll, 30, Zachary Aaron Page, 32, Dante Gaffield, 24, and Tina Lai, 41. A criminal complaint filed by an FBI agent alleges probable cause to charge the four with conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device, and prosecutors said additional charges are expected as the inquiry continues.

Federal filings and agency statements say the defendants self identified as members of a radical offshoot of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, an extremist group characterized in court documents as motivated by pro Palestinian, anti law enforcement and anti government ideology. An FBI social media post by Director Kash Patel noted the self identification and linked it to the alleged plot.

According to court documents, the intended victims included two U.S. logistics centers cited by investigators as locations that "affect interstate and foreign commerce." Investigators say the group prepared backpacks containing improvised explosive devices and compiled step by step instructions to build IEDs along with lists of multiple potential targets. The plot was to be executed simultaneously at five sites in southern California at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, federal officials said.

Investigators located a remote campsite in the southern Mojave Desert where photographs submitted in court reportedly show bomb making materials laid out on folding tables. A surveillance plane tracked the suspects’ movements and the FBI’s Los Angeles SWAT team coordinated arrests that were carried out without incident. Law enforcement officials said the suspects were detained last week before the Decem ber 15 public announcement and remain in federal custody pending further proceedings.

The case has immediate implications for law enforcement and private sector operators of transportation and logistics networks. Two facilities described as affecting interstate and foreign commerce underscore how attacks on cargo hubs could disrupt supply chains already strained during peak holiday shipping periods. Increased spending on security, more stringent screening, and closer federal local cooperation at logistics centers are likely near term responses, legal and industry analysts said.

Longer term the investigation reflects persistent challenges in countering ideologically driven domestic violence that targets infrastructure. Prosecutors indicated more charges could follow and that the investigation is ongoing, leaving open questions about possible additional co conspirators and the full list of intended targets. Federal officials said they would release more information as the case moves through the courts.