Authorities have made their fifth arrest in the alleged pipe bomb plot that was set to take place on New Year’s Eve, taking 29-year-old transgender-identifying Marine veteran Micah James Legnon into custody for his alleged involvement in the foiled plan.
Legnon, who was active in chat groups with fellow members of the the far-left extremist group Turtle Island Liberation Front, wrote that he wanted to “recreate Waco” by attacking U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
In the chats, Legnon posted photos of assault rifles and body armor, going by the names “Kateri TheWitch” and “DarkWitch She/Her.” He planned to carry out attacks in New Orleans, to accompany the planned New Year’s Eve bombings in southern California, the criminal complaint alleges.
Federal agents raided Legnon’s home and found “sniper training manuals, SWAT training manuals, assault rifles, and multiple rounds of ammunition,” the complaint reads. Further, on December 4, Legnon posted a Facebook story in which he called ICE agents “masked f****.”
“Sh** time to recreate Waco tx with these f******. F*** ice,” Legnon wrote.
Legnon is being held at the Iberia Parish Jail and was charged with making threats over interstate commerce. His arrest was first reported by independent journalist Andy Ngo.
The complaint noted that Legnon has combat experience, as he previously served in the Marines, and now uses she/her pronouns.
Four other co-conspirators — Audrey Carroll, 30, Zachary Page, 32, Dante Garfield, 24, and Tina Lai, 41 — and members of the Turtle Island Liberation Front were arrested in Los Angeles, the FBI announced Monday. The group was discovered in the Mojave Desert, testing out explosives.
All five of the members arrested were all a part of the same chat group, coined “Order of the Black Lotus,” an offshoot of the Turtle Island Liberation Front.
Police discovered handwritten plans detailing the plot, called “Operation Midnight Sun,” in which the group allegedly planned to plant backpacks at two companies in the Los Angeles area.
Turtle Island Liberation Front’s Instagram page said the group was founded in Los Angeles, and posted, “Free Palestine. Free Hawaii. Free Puerto Rico.”
“Freeing the world from American imperialism is the only way to a safe and peaceful future,” the post continued. The name of the group references “Turtle Island,” a name sometimes used to describe North America, and the fact that the continent needs to be freed from the “illegal American empire.”
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced the charges against the four other alleged group members during a press conference on Monday.
“The charges we are announcing today stem from the defendants and their co-conspirators’ detailed, coordinated plot to bomb multiple U.S. companies on New Year’s Eve,” Essayli said.
A group of trans-identifying extremists attacked an ICE facility in Alvaredo, Texas on July 4, setting off fireworks to draw agents out of the building before opening fire on them. The group was allegedly led by Benjamin Song, who, like Legnon, is a Marine veteran.