A Glendale woman who is one of four people accused in an alleged New Year’s Eve terror plot to bomb targets in Los Angeles and Orange counties pleaded not guilty Friday to federal charges.
Tina Lai, 41, pleaded not guilty to one count of providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists, and one count of possession of unregistered firearms.
Three other defendants — Audrey Carroll, 30; Zachary Aaron Page, 32; and Dante Gaffield, 24 — also face the same two charges. Carroll and Page also are charged with one count of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The bombs were supposed to go off at locations in Southern California on New Year’s Eve, but the terror plot was thwarted, federal investigators said. Federal investigators said they were members of a group called the Turtle Island Liberation Front.
“I think there’s no question that they intended to commit violent acts because in their mind that’s the only way they’re going to effectuate the political changes they wanted to achieve,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. “We prevented something that actually could have been really bad.”
Two weeks ago, Essayli alongside the FBI announced they had disrupted the alleged plot, showing video of a location in the Mojave Desert where they said members of the group tried to make and test bombs.
The suspects were arrested Dec. 12 in the Mojave Desert as they unloaded bomb-making materials from their cars in preparation to construct and test explosives, Essayli said.
Authorities did not name the companies being targeted, but described them as “Amazon-type” logistical centers.