| Submit your comments on this article | |
| Fifth Column | |
| US Marine with nickname 'Darkwitch' is fifth person arrested for New Year's Eve terror cell [TILF] | |
| 2025-12-17 | |
Micah Legnon, 29, was arrested in Louisiana after he was accused of plotting an alleged attack on New Orleans in affiliation with the radical group Turtle Island Liberation Front. Four members of TILF were arrested in Los Angeles on Friday in connection with a plot to bomb LA on New Year's Eve. Legnon, also a former New Iberia police officer, was allegedly seen loading a vehicle with what appeared to be an assault rifle and body armor on Friday, according to the affidavit. Officials discovered that the former service member was allegedly involved in a group chat with the four suspects arrested on December 12 after testing 'complex' homemade pipe bombs in the Mojave Desert, the affidavit stated. Audrey Carroll, 30, Zachary Page, 32, Dante Gaffield, 24, and Tina Lai, 21, were alleged to have been involved with TILF to execute the New Year's Eve terror attack on two companies across five locations in LA. The group allegedly spearheaded by Carroll, dubbed the Order of the Black Lotus, devised an eight-page handwritten plot called Operation Midnight Sun. Legnon, by the nickname 'Darkwitch' in the group chat, appeared to have made threats on social media toward Immigration and Customs Enforcement on December 4, according to the affidavit. A post on Facebook saw Legnon, under the username Kateri TheWitch, reshare images of Border Patrol agents conducting an arrest on a rooftop with the caption, 'S*** time to recreate Waco tv with these f***ers. F*** ICE.' The caption appeared to refer to the Waco Massacre, where Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agents were in a standoff with a religious sect known as the Branch Davidians, the affidavit stated. Heavily armed members of the cult were waiting to ambush the agents, and as they approached they were gunned down killing four agents, wounding 20 and injuring eight others. After a 51-day standoff, the cult members set the Davidian Compound alight and killed more than 70 residents. The affidavit said that 'given the nature of Legnon's post and the historical context related to the events' in Waco, it was 'a reasonable inference' to conclude that the Facebook post 'intended to convey a threat.' Text messages in the Order of the Black Lotus group chat, saw 'Darkwitch' send a message that read, 'On my way to Nola now, I'll be there in about two hours.' He followed up with photo of what appeared to be a weapon and body armor along with the message, 'just incase,' and a smirking emoji. Inside Legnon's home, the FBI discovered 'sniper training manuals, SWAT training manuals, assault riles and multiple rounds of ammunition,' the affidavit stated. On Highway 90 eastbound toward New Orleans, agents conducted a search of his vehicle and discovered items allegedly similar to those pictured by the contact 'Darkwitch' in the Signal group chat. He was allegedly in possession of an assault rifle, a pistol, a gas canister and body armor. Legnon has been arrested and charged with Threats in Interstate Commerce. The former marine's association with the TILF group was uncovered in text messages between the other four 'self-identified' members who were arrested on the same day. In the eight-page plot to bomb across LA, the FBI said details included handwritten instructions to collect the materials and construct a homemade pipe bomb. The 'complex' pipe bombs were intended to be detonated simultaneously as the clock struck midnight as 'fireworks will be going off at this time so explosions will be less likely to be noticed as immediately as any normal day,' the complaint stated. 'What we are doing will be considered a terrorist act,' Carroll said, according to a conference held on Monday by the FBI headquartered in Los Angeles. The targeted companies were said to be 'logistic companies,' but specific companies were not named. According to the complaint, blank slots were set aside for five additional targets 'if enough comrades.' Carroll and Page allegedly recruited the two other members arrested on Friday to help execute the plot, including 'acquiring bomb-making materials and traveling to a remote location in the Mojave Desert to construct and detonate test explosive devices on December 12.' While in the desert, the group were said to have begun unloading the collected materials - including, precursors, PVC pipes, potassium nitrate, charcoal, sulfur powder and fuses - and assembling the materials on a table as well as erecting a tent to shelter the materials from the sun. At Carroll's home, law enforcement found multiple items including posters reading, 'Death to America,' 'Death to ICE,' as well as a copy of the 'detailed' terror plot, according to the conference. 'Three members of each team would plant "backpacks with IEDs at different points along their assigned buildings,"' the complaint stated. The plot further described graffiti tagging with a red triangle and messaging, as well as plans for members to listen to police scanners or be stationed in a getaway vehicle, according to the criminal complaint. Members were instructed to use burner phones, which would later be destroyed, as well as wearing specific clothing and gloves with their hair 'very tightly concealed.' Follow up plans included attacks on ICE agents and vehicles with pipe bombs, which Carroll said would 'take some of them out and scare the rest.' According to the complaint, Carroll identified one TILF member as a former military service member who 'might be able to get them parts,' appearing to refer to unregistered Armalite pattern rifles. Carroll allegedly messaged the source that she wrote 'multiple plans that never happened or got delayed... so it's like my terrorist diary lmaooooo. I have to get rid of that,' according to the complaint. | |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #7 |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2025-12-17 13:37 |
| #6 |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2025-12-17 13:24 |
| #5 |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2025-12-17 13:21 |
| #4 |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2025-12-17 10:09 |
| #3 |
| Posted by: Matt 2025-12-17 07:57 |
| #2 |
| Posted by: Frank G 2025-12-17 07:14 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: SteveS 2025-12-17 07:10 |