6 Men Charged In Months-Long Violent Plot To Kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

An affidavit by the FBI filed Thursday morning named six men—Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta—who conspired to kidnap the governor starting early this year. 

An undercover FBI agent embedded himself in the group and reported that the men, who on multiple occasions complained of the state’s coronavirus restrictions and labeled Michigan’s governor a “tyrant” with “no checks and balances at all,” sought to recruit the help of a local Michigan militia in overthrowing and kidnapping Whitmer. 

The plot began to take form when 15 people from different states gathered in Ohio to discuss creating a society following a U.S. bill of rights where they could be self-sufficient, and “at one point several members talked about state governments they believe were violating the U.S. Constitution, including the government of Michigan and Governor Gretchen Whitmer,” read the affidavit. 

Over the next few months, the men honed the plan from an operation of “200 men” storming the Capitol building in Lansing, Michigan, and taking hostages to a singular kidnapping of Whitmer at her vacation home. 

“Have one person go to her house, knock on the door and when she answers it just cap her,” said Harris at one point, with Franks also saying: “Kidnapping, arson, death, I don’t care.” 

The men started to finalize their plans on September 13 after multiple drives to Whitmer’s vacation home and a session the previous day where group members constructed and set off an IED in a clearing surrounded by human silhouette targets.