Plot to kidnap Michigan governor ; Man sentenced to 16-yr-imprisonment

A federal judge in Michigan, Tuesday, sentenced a man, Adam Fox to 16 years in prison for plotting to abduct Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

This was revealed in a statement by the United States Department of Justice, stressing that Fox was the leader of the plot to kidnap Whitmer from her summer residence in 2020.

Being the leader of the plot, the 39-year-old resident of Wyoming, Michigan was also convicted of conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction against US citizens or property.

According to DOJ, Fox and his accomplice, 47-year-old Barry Croft Jr, a resident of Bear, Delaware were convicted by a federal jury in August 2022 during an 11-day retrial.

The court documents and evidence presented at trial showed that Fox and Croft schemed to kidnap the Democratic Party governor from her vacation home near Elk Rapids, Michigan.

They also connived to use destructive devices to facilitate their plot by harming and hindering the governor’s security detail and any responding law enforcement officers.

“Mr Fox, and his confederate Mr Croft, were convicted by a jury of masterminding a plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan and to use weapons of mass destruction against responding law enforcement,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division.

“Today’s sentence reflects the Department of Justice’s unwavering commitment to protecting our elected officials, law enforcement officers, and dedicated public servants from criminal threats and violence — and to holding the perpetrators of such acts fully accountable under the law.”

“Today, Mr Fox learned his fate. For his role in the plot to kidnap the Governor and trigger further violence, he will serve a long term in prison,” said Former U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge for the Western District of Michigan, appointed to oversee the trial.

“Responding to domestic terrorism has been a priority for the Department of Justice since its founding. Rest assured: we will spare no effort to disrupt plots like these and hold those responsible accountable to the law.”

Fox was the third to be sentenced of four conspirators convicted in the plot as Croft would be sentenced today.

Co-defendant Ty Garbin, 27, of Hartland, Michigan, pleaded guilty in January 2021 and initially received a sentence of 75 months, or over six years, in prison.

The district court later reduced it to a term of 30 months, or two and a half years in prison, after fully considering his cooperation at both trials.

Kaleb Franks, 28, of Waterford, Michigan, received a term of four years in prison after pleading guilty and testifying at both trials.

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