Three of the men accused of plotting to kidnap Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer ahead of the 2020 presidential election have been indicted on conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction charges, federal officials announced Wednesday.
The three men — Adam Fox, 40, Barry Croft, 45, and Daniel Harris, 23 — were arrested last year for alleged conspiracy to commit kidnapping, but they have now been charged in a superseding indictment for allegedly planning to use explosives in the plot. The Department of Justice alleges that the three men intended to use explosives to harm and hinder Whitmer’s security detail as well as any potential law enforcement responses to the kidnapping effort.
“The defendants shared an overlapping set of views and objectives, and worked cooperatively on the plan to kidnap the Governor,” reads the indictment. “The defendants engaged in domestic terrorism.”
According to the Department of Justice, Fox and Croft “stopped to inspect the underside of a highway bridge” during a September surveillance trip of the governor’s home to find “a place to mount an explosives charge.” The next day, Fox allegedly ordered $4,000 in explosives from a man he thought was a co-conspirator but who was really an FBI agent.
The indictment alleges that Harris and Croft “attempted to detonate two improvised explosive devices containing shrapnel” in July, and then the day after the September trip, “successfully detonated an improvised explosive device containing shrapnel near human silhouette targets to assess its effectiveness as an anti-personnel weapon.” Harris and Croft also tried to make “a good faith payment toward explosives” shortly before they were arrested.
Both Harris and Croft have been charged with possession of an unregistered destructive device, and Harris has additionally been charged with possession of an unregistered short-barreled rifle. Each of the three men faces up to life in prison if found guilty of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction.
Earlier this year, Ty Garbin, one of the alleged co-conspirators, pleaded guilty to one count of kidnapping conspiracy and agreed to “cooperate” with prosecutors. As The Daily Wire previously reported, the plea agreement implicated the other men, including Fox, Harris, Croft and two members of a Michigan-based militia of which Harris was also a member.
In a plea agreement, the man, Ty Garbin, said he and others conducted a field training session at his property, where they discussed a plan to kidnap Whitmer. Garbin also said that he and others traveled to the governor’s vacation home on that night for a surveillance trip.
Furthermore, during a private conversation with a government informant, Garbin allegedly suggested blowing up a bridge to hinder a police response to the plot, and around the same time, offered to paint his boat black to conduct a night-time surveillance trip.
Fox and Croft, according to details provided in court documents, appear to be the two earliest members of what would later become the alleged kidnapping plot group. As alleged in an October complaint, Fox and Croft made contact with each other in 2020 and agreed to “unite others in their cause and take violent action against multiple state governments.”