'Spiritual Leader' Of Group Planning To Kidnap Michigan Gov Sentenced To Nearly 20 Years In Prison
A day after his accomplice and co-leader was given 16 years in prison for plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, one of the architects of the plot was sentenced Wednesday to 19 years and 7 months in prison for his role.
Barry Croft Jr., 47, of Delaware, is the last man to be sentenced for the 2020 plot to kidnap Whitmer from her Michigan vacation home. The plan also included kidnappers evading law enforcement by blowing up a bridge.
Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Croft. U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker cited no injuries and no damaged infrastructure for not handing down a life sentence.
The plot was concocted in response to Whitmer's COVID-19 protocols.
Croft and co-conspirator Adam Fox were leaders of the right-wing militia group The Three Percenters.
Croft was accused of offering bomb-making skills in anticipation of the kidnapping plot. He had practiced detonating an explosive that was filled with shrapnel at a training event, according to trial evidence.
"He's the spiritual leader of this group, this movement, the same way some sheikh in ISIS might be," federal prosecutor Nils Kessler said in court Wednesday.
Kessler noted that Croft "could at least admit the ideas are wrong, but he's not because he still holds them."
Attorney Christopher Gibbons, who represented Croft and Fox, argued they were unlikely to actually follow through with the plan, while prosecutors argued that the kidnapping plot was part of a larger goal to "set off a second American civil war, a second American Revolution, something that they call 'the boogaloo.'"
"They had no real plan for what to do with the governor if they actually seized her. Paradoxically, this made them more dangerous, not less," Kessler said in a court filing ahead of the hearing.
Barring a successful appeal, Croft's sentencing brings an end to one of the most closely watched federal domestic terror prosecutions in recent history.
Two other men — Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta — were found not guilty in a separate trial in April. A first trial resulted in hung juries for both Fox and Croft.
Two men who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and testified against Fox and Croft also served time for the crime. Ty Garbin is free after serving a 2 1/2-year prison term, while Kaleb Franks was given a four-year sentence.
Whitmer, a Democrat, was not harmed during the planning of, or demise, of the dangerous plot on her life.
© Copyright IBTimes 2024. All rights reserved.