Four defendants who were arrested for allegedly plotting to attack two U.S. companies with improvised explosive devices on New Year’s Eve appeared in the U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles on Monday.
The quartet were arrested Dec. 12 in the Mojave Desert and were charged with conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device. They are members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, a pro-Palestinian, anti-government and anti-capitalist group. Turtle Island is a term used by some Native Americans to describe North America.
One of the defendants, Audrey Carroll, provided her co-conspirators with an eight-page handwritten document that described a bombing plot. The plot called for backpacks with bombs to be simultaneously detonated at five or more locations in the greater Los Angeles area.
The co-conspirators acquired bomb-making materials and began building the devices. FBI agents made the arrests before the defendants could assemble a functional bomb.
“Working together, federal and local law enforcement prevented a domestic terrorist attack from occurring this New Year’s Eve in Southern California,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California said.
If convicted, the defendants could be sentenced to up to five years in federal prison for conspiracy and up to 10 years for unregistered destructive device possession.