MICHIGAN — Barry Croft Jr., the leader of a group that had planned to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, has been sentenced to 235 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release.
Croft was convicted in August 2022 during an 11-day retrial for conspiracy to kidnap the Governor, conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, and possession of an unregistered destructive device.
According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Croft and his co-conspirators had intended to kidnap Governor Whitmer from her vacation cottage and use destructive devices to harm and hinder the governor’s security detail and responding law enforcement officers. They had even explored placing a bomb under an interstate overpass near a pedestrian boardwalk.
Croft’s sentence is the final one to be handed down in the case. Co-defendant Adam Fox was sentenced to 16 years in prison the previous day, while Ty Garbin received a 30-month sentence after initially being sentenced to 75 months and cooperating at both trials. Kaleb Franks received a four-year prison term after pleading guilty and testifying at both trials.
Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta were acquitted at the first trial in April 2022.