Federal Grand Jury Charges Six With Conspiracy To Kidnap The Governor Of Michigan
Federal Grand Jury Charges Six With Conspiracy To Kidnap The Governor Of Michigan
GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN — United States Attorney Andrew Birge announced today that a federal grand jury has indicted six men on a charge of conspiracy to kidnap the Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer. Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta each face up to life in prison if convicted. Fox, Garbin, Franks, Harris, and Caserta are residents of Michigan. Croft is a resident of Delaware. The six were previously charged by complaint, but under the United States Constitution, the government must present such a felony case to a grand jury and obtain an indictment to proceed with the prosecution.
The investigation is ongoing. FBI agents of the Detroit Field Office and other members of their Joint Terrorism Task Force, including the Michigan State Police, are conducting the investigation. FBI agents and JTTF members in the Baltimore and Milwaukee Field Offices of the FBI are also involved. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Michigan is prosecuting the federal charges. U.S. Attorney’s Offices in the Eastern District of Michigan, Western District of Wisconsin, and Delaware have assisted.
The charges in an indictment are merely accusations, and a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.
MANNER AND MEANS
In order to effectuate the object of the conspiracy, the defendants used means, facilities,
and instrumentalities of interstate commerce, including cellular telephones, internet-connected social-media platforms and encrypted messaging services, and global positioning satellite (“GPS”) navigation. In addition, defendant BARRY GORDON CROFT, JR. traveled from Delaware to Wisconsin and the Western District of Michigan to train with conspirators, practice building and detonating improvised explosive devices, and conduct surveillance of the Governor’s vacation home.
OVERT ACTS
In furtherance of the conspiracy and to effectuate its illegal object, the following overt
acts, among others, were committed in the Western District of Michigan and elsewhere:
1. On or about June 6, 2020, ADAM DEAN FOX and BARRY GORDON CROFT,
JR. met in Dublin, Ohio to discuss anti-government actions, including the kidnapping of state governors, and recruiting like-minded individuals to their cause.
2. On or about June 18, 2020, ADAM DEAN FOX met TY GERARD GARBIN, a leader of the Michigan-based “militia” group called the Wolverine Watchmen, at a rally outside the State Capitol in Lansing. ADAM DEAN FOX invited TY GERARD GARBIN and other Wolverine Watchmen members to meet him in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with the intent to recruit them into the conspiracy to kidnap the Governor.
3. On or about June 20, 2020, ADAM DEAN FOX met TY GERARD GARBIN and other Wolverine Watchmen members in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and proposed working together toward their common goals.
4. On or about July 10-12, 2020, BARRY GORDON CROFT, JR. traveled from Delaware to Wisconsin to attend a “field training exercise” with Wolverine Watchmen members TY GERARD GARBIN, KALEB JAMES FRANKS, DANIEL JOSEPH HARRIS, and BRANDON MICHAEL-RAY CASERTA, where the group practiced combat tactics, including assaulting motor vehicles using semiautomatic assault rifles and live ammunition.
5. On or about July 11, 2020, at the “field training exercise,” BARRY GORDON CROFT, JR., TY GERARD GARBIN, and DANIEL JOSEPH HARRIS attempted to detonate two improvised explosive devices.
6. At a Wolverine Watchmen live-fire training exercise in Munith, Michigan on or about August 9, 2020, ADAM DEAN FOX proposed kidnapping the Governor to TY GERARD GARBIN, KALEB JAMES FRANKS, and DANIEL JOSEPH HARRIS.
7. On or about August 23, 2020, TY GERARD GARBIN, KALEB JAMES FRANKS, DANIEL JOSEPH HARRIS, and BRANDON MICHAEL-RAY CASERTA met in Lake Orion, Michigan, where they examined each other’s identification documents in an attempt to verify that no members of the group were undercover law enforcement agents or informants.
8. On or about August 23, 2020, DANIEL JOSEPH HARRIS established a new encrypted messaging group for the conspirators, including TY GERARD GARBIN, KALEB JAMES FRANKS, DANIEL JOSEPH HARRIS, and BRANDON MICHAEL-RAY CASERTA, using a service he said would enable them to instantly delete their messages in case of federal law enforcement contact.
9. On or about August 29, 2020, ADAM DEAN FOX conducted a daytime surveillance of the Governor’s vacation home, and drew a map on which he noted approximate distances from the home to police first responders.
10. In an encrypted message on about August 30, 2020, TY GERARD GARBIN suggested that taking down a highway bridge near the Governor’s vacation home would hinder a law enforcement response, and offered to paint his boat black for a future nighttime surveillance trip.
11. Over the weekend of September 12-13, 2020, ADAM DEAN FOX, BARRY GORDON CROFT, JR., TY GERARD GARBIN, KALEB JAMES FRANKS, DANIEL JOSEPH HARRIS, and BRANDON MICHAEL-RAY CASERTA attended a “field training exercise” on TY GERARD GARBIN’s property near Luther, Michigan. At the training exercise, they practiced assaulting a building in teams, and discussed tactics for fighting the Governor’s security detail with improvised explosive devices, a projectile launcher, and other weapons.
12. From the night of September 12, 2020 into the early morning of September 13, 2020, ADAM DEAN FOX, BARRY GORDON CROFT, JR., TY GERARD GARBIN, and KALEB JAMES FRANKS conducted a nighttime surveillance of the Governor’s vacation home and a nearby public boat ramp, using two-way radios and a night-vision scope.
13. On the way to the nighttime surveillance of the vacation home on September 12, 2020, ADAM DEAN FOX and BARRY GORDON CROFT, JR. stopped to inspect the underside of a highway bridge near the vacation home for a place to mount an explosive charge.
14. During the field training exercise near Luther, Michigan on September 13, 2020, BARRY GORDON CROFT, JR. detonated an improvised explosive device containing shrapnel, near human silhouette targets hung by the conspirators to assess its effectiveness.
15. On or about September 13, 2020, ADAM DEAN FOX ordered $4,000 worth of explosives from an undercover FBI agent posing as a co-conspirator.
16. In an encrypted communication on or about September 17, 2020, ADAM DEAN FOX, TY GERARD GARBIN, BRANDON MICHAEL-RAY CASERTA, and KALEB JAMES FRANKS agreed to decline participation in a public rally at the State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan, and concurred that it was important to keep a low profile “if we want to continue with our plans.”
17. On or about October 2, 2020, ADAM DEAN FOX purchased a Taser-type high- voltage stunning device.
18. On or about October 7, 2020, BRANDON MICHAEL-RAY CASERTA instructed his co-conspirators in an encrypted video message that if they encountered police during a reconnaissance, they should give the officers one opportunity to leave, and kill them if they did not comply.
19. On or about October 7, 2020, ADAM DEAN FOX, TY GERARD GARBIN, KALEB JAMES FRANKS, and DANIEL JOSEPH HARRIS drove to Ypsilanti, Michigan, to meet the undercover FBI agent posing as a co-conspirator, and use the “group cash” for a good- faith payment towards explosives and other supplies.