The men who plotted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer before the November 2020 election with the goal of overthrowing the government have been sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison, according to the Department of Justice.
Adam Fox was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Dec. 27, and a day later, his co-conspirator, 47-year-old Barry Croft Jr., of Delaware, was sentenced to more than 19 years in prison.
Both men were found guilty in August on charges of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.
Croft is the final defendant to be sentenced for his role in the domestic terrorism case.
A total of six men were originally charged in the case. Two pled guilty before the trial began, and another two were later found not guilty. The jury was unable to reach a verdict in the charges against Fox and Croft last April. The men were retried and convicted by a different jury.
The group intended to kidnap Gov. Whitmer, a Democrat, from her vacation home before the November 2020 election and hold a sham “treason” trial in response to her pandemic lockdown orders. The weapon in question was a bomb that they planned to detonate after the kidnapping to distract law enforcement.
They hoped the scheme would instigate a “second American Revolution” or “boogaloo.” Fox was considered to be a ringleader of the operation, along with Croft.
Former US Attorney for the Western District of Michigan Andrew Birge was quoted in a Dec. 27 statement from the Department of Justice saying, “Rest assured: we will spare no effort to disrupt plots like these and hold those responsible accountable to the law.”
Three other men, all members of a separate militia group called Wolverine Watchmen, were convicted in October on terrorism and gang charges. On Dec. 15, they were each sentenced up to 20 years in prison.
For Whitmer, the nightmare hasn’t ended. “Threats continue,” she said in a victim impact statement last August that was later summarized by the Detroit Free Press. “I have looked out my windows and seen large groups of heavily armed people within 30 yards of my home. I have seen myself hung in effigy. Days ago at a demonstration, there was a sign that called for ‘burning the witch.’ For me, things will never be the same.”
