A federal grand jury indicted four members of a pro-Palestinian, anti-government group and added terror-related felonies for their alleged efforts to coordinate bombings across Southern California on New Year’s Eve, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
Federal agents arrested the four—Audrey Illeene Carroll, 30; Zachary Aaron Page, 32; Dante James Anthony-Gaffield, 24; and Tina Lai, 41—before the Turtle Island Liberation Front members could carry out the attack.
All four, who are in federal custody without bond, face charges of supporting terrorists. Carroll and Page are also charged with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, the Justice Department said. They are slated to be arraigned in January.
“The charges a federal grand jury returned today reflect the seriousness of the conduct: a planned terrorist attack on American soil on New Year’s Eve,” stated Bill Essayli, assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.
“If convicted, this group of self-professed left-wing radicals will face decades in federal prison,” he said.
Prosecutors allege that the four plotted to attack technology and logistics companies based in Southern California and that they exchanged messages, including “death to Israel. Death to the United States. Death to colonizers. Death to settler-colonialism.”
Carroll and Page face up to life in prison. Gaffield and Lai face up to 25 years each in jail.
