9.1 C
New York

Trucker convicted of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Governor

Published:

A truck driver and one other man were convicted after conspiring to kidnap Michigan’s Governor back in 2020. 

Adam Fox and truck driver Barry Croft Jr. were convicted of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, conspiring to obtain a weapon of mass destruction, and Croft was also convicted of a second explosive charge. 

“They wanted to set off a second American civil war, a second American Revolution, something that they call the boogaloo. And they wanted to do it for a long time before they settled on Gov. Whitmer,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler said during the trial according to NPR.

The investigation into the conspiracy began when Army veteran Dan Chappel joined a Michigan paramilitary group and grew concerned when he heard talk about killing police. Chappel reported his concerns and agreed to become an FBI informant. 

Once the group settled on kidnapping Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Fox and Croft, along with others, visited northern Michigan to see Whitmer’s vacation home at night and scope out a bridge that could be destroyed.

Croft’s attorney, Joshua Blanchard, claimed that suspecting Croft may commit a crime wasn’t enough for a conviction, but the jury eventually decided otherwise. 

“You don’t get to suspect that someone might commit a crime because you don’t like things that they say, that you don’t like their ideologies,” Blanchard said. “This isn’t Russia. This isn’t how our country works.”

Croft and Fox have not yet been sentenced.

JOIN OUR NEWSLETTER

Get the hottest daily trucking news

This Week in Trucking

Videos