Although Torrance police said their investigation was just beginning, several law enforcement officials said the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force was investigating the men for possibly planning a hate crime or other extremist action. The list found by investigators, according to one source, included a variety of public and private locations that would not logically be targeted by suspected robbers.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/state/la-me-arrest8jul08,1,5844440.story?coll=la-news-state
The men, both identified by authorities as U.S. citizens and Islamic converts, appeared Thursday in Torrance Superior Court with federal and local counterterrorism investigators and prosecutors on hand.
(forgot to add this)