Status: 12/28/2022 7:57 p.m
Because he wanted to kidnap the governor of Michigan, a US court has now also sentenced the second head of a right-wing extremist group to 19 years in prison. It is the highest sentence imposed so far in the case.
A US court has sentenced Barry Croft Jr., the second mastermind behind the plot to kidnap US Governor Gretchen Whitmer, to more than 19 years in prison. This was announced by the US Department of Justice in Washington. His accomplice Adam Fox was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Tuesday. The two men were found guilty in August.
The court ruled that the two men had plotted to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor in 2020. The use of a bomb was also considered in order to disable the politician’s security personnel. According to the Reuters news agency, the two men are said to have been sentenced to five years of surveillance in addition to their prison sentences – after their future releases.
Judge Robert Jonker called Croft the brainchild of the plot and a persuasive communicator. “However twisted or irrational it may seem to many of us, it resonated with the target audience,” the judge said. “It’s just as important a leadership technique as telling people on the ground where to go.” The defense has announced an appeal against the verdict.
The prosecution spoke of revolutionary plans
Prosecutors had asked for a life sentence for the 47-year-old man. According to the indictment, he and his accomplice led a group of far-right government opponents who rejected Whitmer’s corona rules. Among other things, they completed weapons training and spied on the politician’s summer house.
In a first trial against Fox and Croft, the jury couldn’t agree on a verdict, so it was reopened. In mid-December, three of the two men’s accomplices were sentenced to seven to twelve years in prison in a separate trial for aiding and abetting a terrorist offence.
A total of 14 suspects were arrested in the case. They were accused of conspiring to start “a second American revolution” by kidnapping Whitmer.
Far-right group exposed by FBI
At the beginning of 2020, the US Federal Police FBI became aware of the group’s project on social networks. With the help of whistleblowers, undercover agents and secret recordings of conversations, the kidnapping plans were uncovered in the fall of 2020, shortly before the presidential election.
A kidnapping of Whitmer was foiled, she was not injured and was reelected governor of Michigan in early November.