Michigan plot to get rid of governor has Wisconsin ties

By Benjamin Yount

Center Square News Service

Part of the story about a militia group accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer took place in Wisconsin.

The FBI on Thursday revealed it stopped a plot to kidnap Whitmer and try her for treason. 

Federal agents infiltrated the group and never allowed the plan to be put into motion. 

The affidavit in the case says five militia members trained in Cambria, Wisconsin, over the weekend of July 10-12. Cambria is in Columbia County, which is in the middle of the state. 

The FBI says the five worked on their skills with guns and tried to build two homemade bombs while there. According to reports, neither of the bombs worked. 

Federal prosecutors named Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, and Brandon Caserta as the five men. All have been indicted on conspiracy to kidnap charges. Croft lives in Delaware, the other four are from Michigan. 

The FBI says two undercover agents from Wisconsin also assisted in the investigation, and helped lead surveillance of the militia. Those undercover agents even went with the suspects to Whitmer’s summer home to help scout for the attack. 

Investigators say the plot to kidnap the governor began earlier in the year, but was put into place in June. The FBI arrested the conspirators and ended the plot in mid-September. 

Additional information posted by The Brillion News:

The FBI released the criminal complaint, which can be viewed at https://www.justice.gov/usao-wdmi/press-release/file/1326161/download.

The complete FBI press release, dated Thursday, October 8, follows:

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — United States Attorney Andrew Birge announced today that six men have been arrested and charged federally with conspiring to kidnap the Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer. According to a complaint filed Tuesday, October 6, 2020, Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta conspired to kidnap the Governor from her vacation home in the Western District of Michigan. Under federal law, each faces any term of years up to life in prison if convicted. Fox, Garbin, Franks, Harris, and Caserta are residents of Michigan. Croft is a resident of Delaware.

U.S. Attorney Birge said that “Federal and state law enforcement are committed to working together to make sure violent extremists never succeed with their plans, particularly when they target our duly elected leaders.”

The federal complaint in this case alleges that the FBI began an investigation earlier this year after becoming aware through social media that a group of individuals was discussing the violent overthrow of certain government and law enforcement components. Through confidential sources, undercover agents, and clandestine recordings, law enforcement learned particular individuals were planning to kidnap the Governor and acting in furtherance of that plan. This group used operational security measures, including communicating by encrypted messaging platforms and used code words and phrases in an attempt to avoid detection by law enforcement. On two occasions, members of the alleged conspiracy conducted coordinated surveillance on the Governor’s vacation home. Fox and Croft discussed detonating explosive devices to divert police from the area of the vacation home and Fox even inspected the underside of an M-31 highway bridge for places to seat an explosive, according to the complaint. Among other activities, the complaint alleges Fox purchased a taser for use in the kidnapping and that the group successfully detonated an improvised explosive device wrapped with shrapnel to test its anti-personnel capabilities. The FBI and Michigan State Police executed arrests as multiple conspirators met to pool funds for explosives and exchange tactical gear.

“All of us can disagree about politics, but those disagreements should never, ever result in violence,” stated U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider, Eastern District of Michigan. “The allegations in this complaint are deeply disturbing. We owe our thanks to the men and women of law enforcement who uncovered this plot and have worked so hard to protect Governor Whitmer.”

“These alleged extremists undertook a plot to kidnap a sitting governor,” said Assistant Special Agent in Charge Josh P. Hauxhurst. “Whenever extremists move into the realm of actually planning violent acts, the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force stands ready to identify, disrupt and dismantle their operations, preventing them from following through on those plans.”

The investigation is ongoing. Agents of the Detroit Field Office of the FBI and other members of their Joint Terrorism Task Force, including the Michigan State Police, are conducting the investigation. FBI Agents and JTTF members in the Baltimore Field Office of the FBI, which covers Delaware, are also involved. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan is prosecuting the federal charges. U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Eastern District of Michigan and Delaware have assisted.

Based on information developed in the investigation, State of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the simultaneous arrest of seven other individuals on state charges of providing material support of terroristic activities and of possessing a firearm in the course of that offense.

The charges in a complaint are merely accusations, and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.