Man who attempted to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer sentenced to almost 20 years
Gretchen Whitmer (Bill Pugliano/Getty Images)
The man was described as “thoroughly radicalized” and received the longest sentence of any defendant involved
One of the men who played a key role in the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was sentenced to 19 1/2 years in prison Wednesday, the longest sentence yet for a federal defendant in one of the most watched domestic terrorism cases in the country.
Defendant Barry Croft Jr. was likened to Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri. A prosecutor also referred to Croft as the American version of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the man who masterminded the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Croft and co-defendant Adam Fox were convicted in August of conspiracy to commit kidnapping and to use a weapon of mass destruction to attack Whitmer in 2020. The governor was the target of far-right rage in 2020 after she imposed lockdowns in the state to stop the spread of COVID.
Whitmer was never physically harmed as the plot was stopped by the FBI who secretly infiltrated the group and arrested 14 people. Fox was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker.
