GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan (AP) — A Delaware truck driver was sentenced Wednesday to more than 19 years in prison after being described as the mastermind behind a conspiracy to kidnap the governor of Michigan.
Prosecutors were seeking life imprisonment for 47-year-old Barry Croft Jr. He was his fourth and final federal defendant to know his fate. Judge Robert J. Jonker described him as the “idea man” behind the conspiracy and called him a “very compelling communicator” for those open to his views.
Judge said, “How twisted or absurd it may seem to many of us, it resonated with its target audience.” It’s a way of leadership that’s as important as telling people where to go.”
Defense attorney Joshua Blanchard said he will appeal the ruling.
Croft and Adam Fox were convicted in August of conspiracy charges at Grand Rapids. Croft was also found guilty of possessing an unregistered explosive device.
Fox, 39, was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Tuesday.
Both men have been accused of conspiring to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer from his vacation home just before the 2020 presidential election. The co-conspirators were outraged by the stringent COVID-19 restrictions Whitmer and other state officials implemented early in the pandemic, as well as the perceived threat to gun ownership.
Whitmer suffered no physical injuries. The FBI was secretly incorporated into the group and made 14 arrests.
“We’re talking about a conspiracy to physically kidnap and potentially assassinate the governor. It doesn’t get any more serious than that,” Jonker said before announcing Croft’s sentencing. “That group had a lot of guns.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler called Croft the “spiritual leader” of the conspirator group and compared his role to that of the “ISIS chief”.
“He essentially considered himself the role of a prophet… there were people who believed in this kind of rhetoric and he used it,” Kessler told the judge.
“This guy is totally radicalized. He hasn’t changed his perspective,” added Kessler. “He doesn’t admit the ideas are wrong, because he still has them. All of this was Mr. Croft’s idea.”
Whitmer’s office declined to comment Wednesday. She said in August that the conviction proved “that those who seek to divide us will be held accountable”. It said it was a “disturbing extension of radical domestic terrorism” that threatened.
Croft regularly wore a tricorn hat of the type commonly seen during the American Revolutionary War, and when he traveled to Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan to meet like-minded extremists, Croft got the resistance symbolic “Expect” tattoo. Us” in my arm.
A separate Grand Rapids jury was unable to deliver a verdict on the pair at their first trial last spring, but acquitted the other two men.
The kidnapping marked the beginning of a “reign of terror,” Kessler said in court documents. Croft’s plans sparked riots, “arson” sleeping government officials, and sparked violence across the country.
In one key piece of evidence, Croft, Fox, and others went to see Whitmer’s villa in northern Michigan. There are undercover agents and informants within the cabal.
At one point, Croft told Allies: But you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, right? “
Croft’s lawyers tried to soften the role of the client. Blanchard said in court that Croft didn’t really have authority over others and often irritated them because he “just kept talking.”
Croft “fell down a rabbit hole of conspiracy,” Blanchard said Wednesday, seeking a sentence less than life imprisonment.
“A lot of people fell down a similar rabbit hole when the pandemic started, and Mr. Croft suddenly connected with a lot of people who felt the same way he did,” Blanchard told the judge.
Blanchard, who became emotional when he spoke about Croft’s three children in court, told reporters outside the court that the ruling meant Croft would not be able to see his children grow up. Told.
Blanchard also claimed that Croft was not the “idea man” he was portrayed to be. Therefore, it was excluded,” he said.
Two men who pleaded guilty and testified against Fox and Croft got a nice break: Ty Garbin has already been released after serving two and a half years in prison, while Kaleb Franks was sentenced to four years in prison.
State court recently handed down lengthy sentences for three men Five more are awaiting trial in County Antrim, where Whitmer’s vacation home is located.
When the conspiracy was crushed, Whitmer blamed then-President Donald Trump, saying it “provided solace to those who spread fear and hatred and division.” In August, 19 months into his inauguration, Trump said his kidnapping plot was a “bogus deal.”
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Detroit AP writer Ed White contributed to this article. Joey Cappelletti is a member of The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative.Reporting to America is a non-profit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to cover hidden issues.