GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – After more than two years since his initial arrest, one of the main perpetrators in the plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer was sentenced and will spend nearly 20 years in federal prison.
Barry Croft Jr. was sentenced Wednesday to 19 years in prison, followed by five years supervised release, and $3,500 in fines. He was also ordered to participate in a substance abuse program. The unregistered destructive device was a commercial firework refashioned with shrapnel to serve as a hand-grenade according to the Justice Department.
The ruling comes after the sentencing of co-conspirator, Adam Fox, on Tuesday, in which Fox received a 16 year prison sentence. So far, at least seven men have been convicted and sentenced over the plot, which was partially in response to Gov. Whitmer’s COVID-19 restrictions according to Axios. Prosecutors argued for him to possibly be sentenced to life in prison, but U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker in Grand Rapids decided his crimes did not warrant such a sentence.
“Mr. Fox, and his confederate Mr. Croft, were convicted by a jury of masterminding a plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan and to use weapons of mass destruction against responding law enforcement,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said in a statement, “Today’s sentence reflects the Department of Justice’s unwavering commitment to protecting our elected officials, law enforcement officers, and dedicated public servants from criminal threats and violence — and to holding the perpetrators of such acts fully accountable under the law.”
Judge Jonker also commended law enforcement’s involvement when the plot was developing so that it never materialized.
“We were never going to experience the worst here because law enforcement intervened early,” said Jonker.
Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks testified against Fox and Croft and pleaded guilty, receiving two and a half year and four year prison sentences respectively. Gov. Whitmer did not attend either sentencing of Croft nor Fox, and has not made a public comment about the sentences.
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