Plans for attack in New Orleans thwarted: Authorities

Plans to “carry out an attack” in New Orleans were thwarted after an ex-Marine was arrested while on the way to the Louisiana city with guns and body armour in the car, according to court documents obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. Micah James Legnon, 28, was charged with threats in interstate commerce. Federal authorities said they had been surveilling Legnon due to ties to an extremist anti-capitalist and anti-Government group.

Four members of the group were arrested Friday in the Mojave Desert, east of Los Angeles, as they were rehearsing a foiled plot to set off bombs in Southern California on New Year’s Eve, authorities said. Plans of an attack in New Orleans began to intensify after several hundred immigration agents were deployed to southeast Louisiana, authorities said. The enforcement operation, dubbed “Catahoula Crunch,” has a goal of 5,000 arrests.

The crackdown is the latest in a series of enforcement operations that have also unfolded in Los Angeles, Chicago and Charlotte, North Carolina. Legnon believed it was time to “recreate” Waco with an attack in New Orleans, authorities said in court documents. They pointed to a December 4 chat message by Legnon written under the alias “Kateri The Witch” the day after Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrived in New Orleans.