Federal authorities said they’ve thwarted a plot to bomb five locations around Southern California on New Year’s Eve. The FBI has arrested four people who they say belong to an extremist anti-government group.
FBI officers arrested the suspects in Lucerne Valley— about 50 miles northeast of San Bernardino. Federal officials shared at a press conference in Los Angeles on Monday that they conducted an undercover operation and eventually caught the suspects setting up a campsite in the Mojave Desert to build and test homemade pipe bombs.
“These threats are sophisticated, organized campaigns of targeted intimidation, radicalization, threats and violence designed to silence opposing speech, limit political activity, and direct policy outcomes and prevent the proper functioning of a democratic society,” said Bill Essayli, Los Angeles’ top federal prosecutor who was picked by the president.
Essayli said Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a memo to US Attorneys directing them to mobilize federal law enforcement “ to prioritize counter domestic terrorism and political violence investigations.”
The criminal complaint charges two men and two women with conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device. Federal law enforcement said the group is part of an offshoot of the Turtle Island Liberation Front, a group authorities described as anti-government and anti-capitalist.
Essayli said the alleged leader of the group, Audrey Carroll, gave handwritten plans detailing the attacks to the other three suspects and a paid FBI informant.
“It included step by step instructions to build IEDs or improvised explosive devices, and listed multiple targets across Orange County and Los Angeles,” said Essayli.
According to the complaint, Carroll and her co-conspirators planned to build “complex pipe bombs” to detonate simultaneously at five locations of two different companies. The plan allegedly included detailed instructions on how to craft the explosives and how to avoid leaving evidence behind.
The complaint alleges Carroll told a co-conspirator during the drive to the desert, “what we’re doing will be considered a terrorist act.”
The suspects are scheduled to appear in court today.