8.3 C
New York
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Feds add weapon of mass destruction charge against 3 suspects in plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

Three of the men accused of plotting to abduct Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have been charged with conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction in the sinister kidnapping attempt, federal authorities said Wednesday.

The three suspects planned to use bombs to destroy a highway bridge near Whitmer’s vacation home to divert police attention and resources during an eventual attack on the state’s Democratic leader, according to a superseding indictment.

The men — Delaware resident Barry Croft, 45, and Michigan residents Adam Fox, 40, and Daniel Harris, 23 — face life in prison if convicted. They and three other suspects were arrested last fall after federal and state authorities uncovered the alleged conspiracy through confidential informants and secretly recorded phone calls and in-person conversations.

The anti-government extremists were angry at Whitmer’s strict measures to slow the spread of COVID-19 and considered multiple violent scenarios in retaliation, including storming Michigan’s Capitol building to take hostages and conducting televised executions of politicians they disagreed with, according to the FBI. The group eventually decided to snatch Whitmer out of her home and try her for treason before the November elections, prosecutors have said.

Adam Fox, arraigned in federal court in Kent County, Michigan, faces charges related to what the FBI says a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov.

“Grab the f—ing Governor. Just grab the b—h,” Fox said in a July 7 phone conversation that was recorded by the FBI, court documents show.

Prosecutors said they also have evidence that the suspects held live-fire and combat exercises to prepare for an attack with the help of an obscure paramilitary group known as Wolverine Watchmen.

In an encrypted online message obtained by the FBI, Harris told members of the group that he was a Marine Corps infantry veteran who “can make things go boom if you give me what I need,” according to the latest indictment.

In a photo provided by the Kent County Sheriff, Daniel Harris is shown in a booking photo. A federal grand jury has charged six men with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in what investigators say was a plot by anti-government extremists angry over her policies to prevent spread of the coronavirus. An indictment released Thursday, Dec. 17, 2020, by U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge levied the charge against Adam Dean Fox, Barry Gordon Croft Jr., Ty Gerard Garbin, Kaleb James Franks, Daniel Joseph Harris and Brandon Michael-Ray Caserta.

Harris and Croft were also charged Wednesday with knowingly possessing an unregistered destructive device. Harris faces an additional charge of possessing an unregistered semiautomatic assault rifle.

As for the original charge of conspiracy to kidnap the governor, the three men and two of their co-defendants — Kaleb Franks and Brandon Caserta — have pleaded not guilty. The sixth suspect, Ty Garbin, pleaded guilty in December and is awaiting sentencing.

Eight other men face state charges for allegedly helping the group prepare for the foiled attack.

Some of those men have ties to an extremist ideology known as “boogaloo,” an anti-government movement that hopes to start a second civil war in America, and several were fervent supporters of former President Donald Trump, who frequently attacked Whitmer when he was in office.

In this Jan. 27, 2021, file photo provided by the Michigan Office of the Governor, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer delivers her virtual State of the State address the state in Lansing, Mich.

Source (Ny Daily news)

- Advertisement -

More articles