4 charged with plotting New Year's Eve attacks in Southern California, prosecutors say

LOS ANGELES -- Federal authorities on Monday announced the arrests of four alleged members of an extremist group who are suspected of planning coordinated bombing attacks on New Year's Eve across Southern California.

Audrey Carroll, Zachary Page, Dante Gaffield and Tina Lai, all described as members of the anti-capitalist and anti-government group known as the "Turtle Island Liberation Front," face charges of conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device in connection with the alleged plot. They were taken into custody last week in Lucerne Valley, near the desert city of Twentynine Palms, California, home to a Marine Corps base. All four are from the Los Angeles area.

During a news conference Monday, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said additional charges are expected to be filed against the group.

According to the criminal complaint, Carroll provided a confidential human source with the FBI a handwritten document titled "Operation Midnight Sun" in November that detailed the plot that described their alleged plans to plant backpacks with IEDs that would be simultaneously detonated at five locations targeting two U.S. companies at midnight on New Year's Eve.

"It included step-by-step instructions to build IEDs...and listed multiple targets across Orange County and Los Angeles," Essayli said.

The handwritten plan stated the IEDs would be "complex pipe bombs," included instructions on how to manufacture the bombs and included guidance to avoid leaving evidence behind that could be traced back to the co-conspirators, the complaint alleges.

Evidence photos in the court documents show a desert campsite with what investigators said were bomb-making materials strewn across plastic folding tables.

The suspects "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, among others," the complaint states.

Agents allegedly placed the group under arrest after they took steps to build the devices under a tent that was allegedly intended to shield the materials from the sun.

Carroll and other participants are alleged to have formed a Signal chat known as the "Order of the Black Lotus," which they deemed a "radical" faction of the TILF and ultimately used it to discuss their bombing plot.

In a search of Carroll's residence, investigators uncovered posters and materials associated with TILF including one reading "DEATH TO ICE" and another reading "DEATH TO AMERICA, LONG LIVE TURTLE ISLAND & PALESTINE."

This is a developing story.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.