Michigan Militia Members Accused In Plot To Kidnap, Kill Whitmer

MICHIGAN — Members of a Michigan militia group hatched an apparent plot in early 2020 to kidnap and kill Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, authorities said Thursday.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Thursday called the plot “a serious and credible threat to public safety” that also threatened the lives of police officers.

Nessel announced the filing of federal conspiracy to kidnap charges against several members of a militia group in Michigan called "Wolverine Watchmen" or "associates of Wolverine Watchmen." She said six people have been accused and arraigned in the plot to kidnap and kill Whitmer, and that seven more people are in police custody in connection with their involvement.

"Our efforts uncovered elaborate plans to endanger the lives of law enforcement officers, government officials and the broader public," Nessel said. "The multi-front operation to apprehend the suspects in question was carefully coordinated and skillfully executed, resulting in, very fortunately, no casualties."

Six people were arraigned Thursday morning on conspiracy to kidnap charges in Antrim County.

Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta also faced federal indictments Thursday morning in Antrim County.

Nessel said seven more people are in custody in connection with the conspiracy to kidnap Whitmer and have been charged with providing material to support terrorist acts, among other felonies. Nessel identified those people as Paul Bellar, Shawn Fix, Eric Molitor, William Null and Michael Null, Joseph Morrison and Pete Musico.

The investigation involved people from across Michigan, including Belleville, Cadillac, Canton, Charlotte, Clarkston, Grand Rapids, Luther, Munith, Orion Township, Ovid, Portage, Shelby Township and Waterford, Nessel said.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge said the case was the culmination of several agencies working together.

"All of us standing here today want the public to know 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," Birge said.

Federal authorities became aware of the conspiracy to kidnap Whitmer in early 2020 through social media, according to the records. Much of the information obtained in the 15-page federal charging document came from an informant wearing a wire, records show.

Two of the accused — Croft and Fox — met with about 13 other people from several states in Dublin, Ohio, where they discussed creating a society that "followed the U.S. Bill of Rights" and where they could be "self-sufficient," according to documents.

The group met over the course of months in remote areas of Michigan where they trained with guns and performed "tactical drills," according to the documents.

In federal documents, officials detailed how Fox said he needed "200 men" to storm the Capitol building, take hostages including Whitmer, and try the governor for treason. They hoped to execute the plan prior to the Nov. 3 election, according to documents.

The group talked about when they would have the best opportunity to kidnap the governor, and discussed abducting her from either her personal vacation home or the governor's official summer residence, according to documents. Once they abducted her, they would take her to a remote location in Wisconsin, records show.

Fox and Croft discussed detonating explosives on the underside of a Michigan highway bridge near Whitmer's vacation home in a potential ploy to occupy law enforcement during a kidnapping attempt, Berge said.

Another plan discussed was to simply knock on the governor's door and, if she answered, "just cap her."

On at least two occasions in August, the group conducted daytime surveillance of the governor's home, according to the documents. In September, members watched her vacation home at night.