Convicted ringleader in Michigan governor kidnapping plot faces sentencing

[December 27, 2022]  By Steve Gorman

(Reuters) - The convicted leader of a foiled plot by members of right-wing militia groups to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer faces a possible life term in prison when he is sentenced on Tuesday in U.S. District Court.

Adam Fox was found guilty in August by a federal court jury in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on one count each of conspiring to abduct Whitmer and conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction in a scheme prosecutors said was intended to spark a "second American revolution."

Co-defendant Barry Croft Jr., another member of the Three Percenters militia group, was convicted of the same charges at the same trial and was scheduled for sentencing on Wednesday.

Both men face a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Prosecutors described Fox as the mastermind behind a plot to break into Whitmer's vacation home, kidnap her at gunpoint, and take her to stand "trial" on bogus treason charges and face execution.

Prosecutors said the plot, precipitated by the group's opposition to public health measures Whitmer imposed during the early days of the COVID pandemic, was aimed at pushing the country into armed conflict as a contentious presidential race approached in November 2020.
 

The weapon of mass destruction involved was a bomb that prosecutors said the conspirators planned to detonate to hinder law enforcement's response to the abduction.

Whitmer, a Democrat and co-chairman of Joe Biden's White House campaign that year, had clashed publicly with then-President Donald Trump over her COVID policies.

She accused Trump of fomenting political extremism by repeatedly directing heated rhetoric on the issue, including a campaign rally in Michigan where his criticism of Whitmer drew chants of "lock her up" from the crowd.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer sits in a 2019 Chevrolet Traverse, assembled in Lansing, Michigan, at the General Motors display area during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., January 15, 2019. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

Fox and Croft were among 13 men arrested in October 2020 on state or federal crimes in the kidnapping conspiracy.

Two others put on trial with them in federal court were found not guilty in April 2022. The same jury failed to reach a verdict for Fox and Croft, resulting in a mistrial for them.

Two other men who pleaded guilty to kidnapping conspiracy charges testified for the prosecution at the first federal trial and during the retrial of Fox and Croft about four months later.

The two cooperating witnesses, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, were sentenced to 2 1/2 years and four years in prison, respectively.

Three other men tried together in state court and convicted in October 2022 of playing supporting roles in the plot as members of the Wolverine Watchmen militia were sentenced last month to minimum sentences of 10, 12 and 7 years in prison, respectively.

Depending on parole factors, two of the men, Joseph Morrison and his father-in-law, Pete Musico, could each serve terms of up to 42 years, while the third, Paul Bellar, faces as much as 22 years behind bars.

(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles. Editing by Gerry Doyle)

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