Audrey Illeene Carroll and three alleged co-conspirators were arrested in the Los Angeles area after federal agents said they disrupted a coordinated plot to place backpacks containing improvised explosive devices at multiple locations during New Year’s Eve celebrations.Prosecutors and court filings say investigators found a remote campsite in the Mojave Desert near Lucerne Valley where photographs showed bomb-making materials laid out on folding tables, components including PVC pipe, suspected potassium nitrate, charcoal and sulfur powder, and an eight-page handwritten plan titled Operation Midnight Sun, and that the group used burner phones and the encrypted app Signal in a chat called Order of the Black Lotus.The Department of Justice charged the four named defendants with conspiracy and possession of an unregistered destructive device, and federal officials including
Bill Essayli,
Kash Patel,
Akil Davis and
Pam Bondi said the intervention prevented a violent, organized attack while authorities continue an active investigation that could produce additional arrests or charges.