MICHIGAN
Officials stated that Barry Croft Jr., 47, of Bear, Delaware, was sentenced Thursday to 19 years and seven months in prison for conspiracy to kidnap the Governor of Michigan.
The defendants conspired to use weapons of mass destruction, and possessed an unregistered destructive device that was a commercial firework refashioned with shrapnel to serve as a hand grenade.
Croft was convicted by a federal jury in August 2022 during an 11-day retrial.
According to the evidence presented at trial, Croft and others intended to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer from her vacation cottage near Elk Rapids, Michigan, officials stated.
They planned to use destructive devices to facilitate their plot by harming and hindering the governor’s security detail and any responding law enforcement officers.
They specifically explored placing a bomb under an interstate overpass near a pedestrian boardwalk.
A jury in an earlier trial was unable to reach a verdict.
Croft is the final defendant sentenced for his role in the plot.
Co-defendant Adam Fox, 39, of Wyoming, Michigan, was sentenced yesterday to 16 years in prison followed by five years of supervised release for his role in the conspiracy. Ty Garbin, 27, of Hartland, Michigan, pleaded guilty in January 2021 and initially received a sentence of 75 months, or over six years, in prison.
After fully considering his cooperation at both trials, the district court later reduced that sentence to a term of 30 months or two and a half years in prison.
Kaleb Franks, 28, of Waterford, Michigan, received four years in prison after pleading guilty and testifying at both trials.
Co-defendants Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta were acquitted at the first trial in April 2022.
The FBI’s Detroit Field Office investigated the case.