From Bomb Plot to Cell Block

Zachary Aaron Page, a 32-year-old who identifies as a trans woman and is accused of plotting a New Year’s Eve bombing spree against companies in the Los Angeles area, was denied bond Friday morning and will remain in a men’s jail after begging to be transferred to a women’s facility.

Page, who appeared in court wearing a beige jumpsuit with shoulder-length hair and glasses, was joined by attorney John Neil McNicholas as friends and supporters sat in the courtroom gallery.

Prosecutors argued that Page — who worked as an audio engineer and in a warehouse — is a flight risk and danger to society, while Page’s attorney argued he does not pose a threat.

Page was formerly married to a woman and they were living in a house in Long Beach he still owns, it was revealed in court. Together they share a 4-year-old son.

Page, who used the aliases “AK,” “Ash Kerrigan,” and “cthulu’s daughter,” is one of five suspects charged in an alleged far-left extremist plot tied to the Order of the Black Lotus, a splinter group of the anti-capitalist Turtle Island Liberation Front. Law enforcement said he offered to get weapons for the group, even though he had no weapons himself and has never shot a gun.

Arguing that Page should remain in custody, prosecutor Amanda Elbogen called Page a “grave threat to the community” and a flight risk.

The bomb-making equipment seized by law enforcement was enough to “blow up a car” and possibly “an entire house,” revealed Elbogen.

Page and the rest of his accused cohorts had planned to target five international shipping companies in the Los Angeles area, which included using “complex IEDs.”

The prosecutor added the group had burner phones to carry out the attacks, which would later be destroyed and buried in concrete blocks.

Authorities obtained recordings of Page offering firearms training to other group members. He boasted of being able to obtain assault rifles to be used against ICE agents and also purchased pistol primers at a firearms store, said Elbogen.

Defense attorney John McNicholas argued that his client is not a flight risk.

He added that possession of unassembled bomb-making materials means there wasn’t a “destructive device.”

But Judge Castillo wasn’t interested in the defense’s argument.

“I see intent to cause a bomb. The government has made a forceful argument,” he said.

Co-defendants in the case include Audrey Illeene Carroll, 30, also known as “Asiginaak,” of South Los Angeles; Dante Gaffield, 24, also known as “Nomad,” of South Los Angeles; and Tina Lai, 41, also known as “Kickwhere,” of Glendale. Micah James Legnon, 29, a transgender Marine vet, was later arrested in connection to the alleged terror plot.

According to court records, the group drafted an eight-page handwritten plan dubbed “Operation Midnight Sun,” which allegedly laid out a scheme to plant backpack-style pipe bombs at logistics centers operated by US companies across the Los Angeles area on New Year’s Eve.

Prosecutors say the alleged plot escalated beyond property damage, with investigators claiming the group later planned to target ICE agents and their vehicles with pipe bombs beginning in early 2026, hoping the attacks would “take some of them out and scare the rest.”

Authorities say the suspects were arrested in Lucerne Valley in the Mojave Desert, where they were allegedly caught on video attempting to detonate improvised explosive devices. Search warrants later uncovered signs reading “Death to America,” “Death to ICE,” and “Long live Turtle Island and Palestine,” officials said.

Authorities say Legnon wanted to recreate the 1993 massacre by David Koresh’s Davidians in Waco, Texas, that ended with four agents and more than 70 civilians killed. Legnon — who went by “Kateri TheWitch” and “DarkWitch She/Her” in chat groups — appeared to be planning an attack in New Orleans to coincide with others attacking southern California, the complaint alleged.

If convicted, Page and co-defendants face years in federal prison for what authorities say could have been one of the most serious domestic terror plots in recent years in Southern California.