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Barry Croft Jr sentenced to over 19 years in prison for conspiring to kidnap Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer

Barry Croft and his co-defendant Adam Fox were convicted in August 2022 on charges of plotting to kidnap the Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer
PUBLISHED DEC 28, 2022
Barry Croft has been charged and sentenced to more than 19 years in prison for conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer(NBC/YouTube, Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Barry Croft has been charged and sentenced to more than 19 years in prison for conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer(NBC/YouTube, Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN: Barry Croft Jr, the co-leader of the 2020 plot to kidnap Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, was sentenced to over 19 and half year term in prison by the federal court on December 28, a day after his co-conspirator Adam Fox was handed a 16-year sentence in prison, federal prosecutors stated.

Barry Croft Jr, 47, was sentenced to "more than 19 years in prison" by Michigan federal Judge Robert Jonker on Wednesday, after his conviction in August 2022, for plotting to kidnap the Michigan governor from her Elk Rapids vacation cottage in 2020, reports the New York Post.

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Being the fourth and last defendant in the scheme, Croft, a trucker from Delaware was described by the judge as "the idea guy" behind the kidnapping plot that was prevented from accomplishing by an FBI informant within the group. 

According to the New York Post, the federal prosecutors requested life sentences for both Croft and Adam Fox over the conspiracy charges they were convicted for. The final defendant was also charged with conspiracy of using weapons of mass destruction and possession of an unregistered destructive device for their plan to blow up a bridge to let the plotters flee after kidnapping the governor.

Croft was “thoroughly radicalized” and “he hasn’t changed his viewpoint,” Nils Kessler, the Assistant US Attorney told the court. “When the aim of that kidnapping is to terrorize the people and affect the conduct of government, it is so pernicious that only the most serious sanction is sufficient,” Kissler wrote in a court filing, as per the Detroit News.

“The sentence imposed by this court should reflect the incredibly dangerous threat posed by Adam Fox and Barry Croft’s attempt to light the fire of a second revolution,” he added.

On Tuesday, December 27, Croft's co-defendant, Fox, 39, was sentenced to 16 years in prison with five years of supervision. Jonker described him as the “driving force urging their recruits to take up arms, kidnap the governor and kill those who stood in their way.”

The ringleaders, known as the Wolverine Watchmen, were part of a paramilitary group that plotted to kidnap the now 51-year-old Governor Whitmer from her vacation home following the frustration they had at her COVID-19 restrictions imposed statewide in 2020 and also saw it posing threats to legal ownership of guns.

Among the conspirators, Ty Garbin, who cooperated with prosecutors at the trial was sentenced to a reduced 2½-year for his part in the scheme and a four-year term in jail was sentenced for Kaleb Franks. In April, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta were acquitted by a federal jury for their alleged involvement.

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