Wealthy Suspects Linked to Bombing Plans in Los Angeles
It’s a curious contradiction: the suspects arrested for allegedly planning bombings in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve claim to be anti-capitalist, yet they come from affluent backgrounds.
Tina Lai, 41, is one of those suspects. She lives in a spacious four-bedroom home located in Arcadia, an upscale suburb of Los Angeles. The median home price there hovers around $2 million, which is significantly higher—about 66%—than the city’s overall median of $1.2 million. Interestingly, it seems that the house actually belongs to a relative, likely her father.
Prior to her arrest, Lai was reported to be living in a 2,000-square-foot home that’s about 13 miles from downtown.
Last Friday, federal authorities apprehended her along with three other suspects for their alleged involvement in a coordinated bombing plot around the city.
The other individuals arrested include Audrey Eileen Carroll, age 30; Zachary Aaron Page, 32; and Dante Gaffield, 24, who purportedly is affiliated with a radical group known as the Order of the Black Lotus, a splinter faction of the extremist Turtle Island Liberation Front (TILF).
All four face charges for conspiracy as well as possession of an unregistered destructive device, officials have stated. Additionally, a fifth suspect was arrested in New Orleans concerning a different conspiracy.
Page lived in a three-bedroom house in Oak Park, a more subdued suburban area. As of June, he was still there, although he isn’t the homeowner. The median home price in Ventura County, where Oak Park is located, is about $920,000. Meanwhile, Carroll was residing in a two-bedroom apartment in downtown Los Angeles, although it’s unclear if she is still there. Rent prices for similar apartments start at around $2,500 monthly.
Federal agents have indicated that Carroll bought 13 PVC pipes and two bags of potassium nitrate through a burner account on Amazon for potential explosive use. Together with Page, she is believed to have discussed further terrorist actions, even targeting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.
As for Gaffield, the youngest of the group, there’s no current valid address on file for him, but he previously lived with family in a three-bedroom house situated in Altadena, a neighborhood that ranges from middle-class to affluent. The median home price there is about $720,500.
TILF, which Gaffield is reportedly associated with, is an extremist organization that opposes capitalism, U.S. policies, law enforcement, and various international relations, including those with Israel.
This little-known group is noted for its inflammatory rhetoric, openly declaring things like “Death to America” while also promoting convoluted arguments about colonialism and violence.
