BARRY CROFT JR.

A Delaware trucker described as an architect of the conspiracy to kidnap Michigan’s governor was sentenced Wednesday to more than 19 years in prison — the longest term yet given to anyone convicted in the plot.

Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Barry Croft Jr., who was the fourth and final federal defendant to learn his fate. Judge Robert J. Jonker described him as "the idea guy" behind the plot.

Barry Croft. Jr., who has been convicted in the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, has been sentenced Wednesday in federal court.

Barry Croft Jr. was described by prosecutors as the “ideas guy" behind a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and spark a civil war.

Barry Croft Jr. was due in federal court Wednesday, after key ally Adam Fox was sentenced to 16 years in prison over the plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer.

Prosecutors are recommending a life prison sentence for a co-leader of the conspiracy to kidnap Michigan's governor.

A Delaware trucker described as an architect of the conspiracy to kidnap Michigan’s governor has been sentenced to more than 19 years in prison.

A Delaware trucker described as an architect of the conspiracy to kidnap Michigan’s governor was sentenced Wednesday to more than 19 years in prison — the longest term yet given to anyone convicted in the plot. Prosecutors had sought a life sentence for Barry Croft Jr., 47, who was the fourth and final federal defendant to learn his fate. Judge Robert J. Jonker described him as “the idea guy” behind the plot and called him “a very convincing communicator" for people who were open to his views.

The government had pushed for a life sentence, but the judge said that punishment was not necessary to deter future similar acts.

Adam Fox, along with Barry Croft, was convicted in August of planning to abduct Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Croft will be sentenced Wednesday.

Adam Fox was the "driving force" behind the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, prosecutors said.

The co-leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been sentenced to 16 years in prison.

A steely rebel who wanted to inspire a revolution by kidnapping Michigan's governor or an insecure patsy who was cleverly swayed by federal agents and informants? A judge has been given two very different portrayals of Adam Fox, who faces a possible life sentence Tuesday for conspiring to abduct Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and blow up a bridge to ease an escape in northern Michigan. Fox and co-defendant Barry Croft Jr. were accused of being at the helm of a wild plot to whip up anti-government extremists just before the 2020 presidential election.

The attorney for the leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov_ Gretchen Whitmer says his client should not be sentenced to life in prison because prosecutors overstated his role in the plot and have created a “false narrative of a terrifying para-military leader."

The leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer should not be sentenced to life in prison because federal prosecutors overstated his role in the plot and have created a “false narrative of a terrifying para-military leader," his attorney argues. Attorney Christopher Gibbons said in his sentencing memorandum filed late Friday for Adam Fox that the government had employed “histrionic descriptions" of Fox to overstate “his actual intentions or his actual capabilities." The filing in federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan, came after prosecutors told the court Monday in their sentencing recommendation that a life prison sentence would be justified for Fox, saying his goal in the 2020 kidnapping plot was a forerunner of rampant anti-government extremism.

Federal prosecutors recommended a life sentence for Adam Fox, the alleged ringleader of a foiled 2020 plot to kidnap Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Federal prosecutors say a life prison sentence would be justified for the leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

A federal judge has denied a new trial request by two men convicted of conspiring to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Three men have been convicted of supporting a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor.

Jurors have begun deliberations in a third trial connected to a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Prosecutors are urging a jury to convict three men for assisting the leaders of a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor.

Prosecutors have rested their case in the trial of three men charged with assisting a 2020 plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

A judge has dismissed a young woman from the jury hearing the trial of three men in connection with a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer after attorneys accused her of flirting with one of the defendants.

The second man to plead guilty in a kidnapping plot against Michigan’s governor has been sentenced to four years in prison.

The Republican candidate for Michigan governor has compared Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s policies to the 2020 plot to kidnap the Democratic incumbent.

A judge has slashed nearly four years off the prison sentence of a star witness in the plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor, assuring Ty Garbin soon will be free.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is calling for a political cooling-off after two men were convicted of plotting to kidnap her.

Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were convicted Tuesday of conspiring to obtain a weapon of mass destruction and kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

A jury convicted two men of conspiring to kidnap Michigan's governor in 2020 in a plot prosecutors described as a rallying cry for a U.S. civil war by anti-government extremists.

A jury has convicted two men of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020.

Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. are charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 over their disgust with COVID restrictions.

Jurors have gone home after an afternoon of deliberations in the second trial of two men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

There's no dispute about some of the evidence in the trial of two men accused of wanting to kidnap Michigan’s governor.

There is no dispute about some evidence in the trial of two men accused of eagerly wanting to kidnap Michigan's governor: They enjoyed getting high. From start to finish, the jury repeatedly has heard about marijuana in the case of Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., who are charged with conspiring to abduct Gretchen Whitmer as part of an anti-government uprising in 2020. It has been cited by defense lawyers to reinforce their depiction of Fox and Croft as “big talkers” who sometimes said outrageous things when they had been smoking pot.

Defense lawyers have rested their case in the trial of two men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan's governor.

Prosecutors have rested their case against two men on trial for a second time in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020.

A man who pleaded guilty to conspiring to kidnap Michigan's governor says two other men were “very eager” to move forward with the plan in 2020.

Defense attorneys have grilled an FBI informant in the trial of two men accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan’s governor.

A lawyer has raised concerns about a juror in the second trial of two men charged with planning to kidnap Michigan's governor.

A second trial is underway for two men accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

At the White House press briefing on Tuesday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Biden administration was not aware of the FBI's raid on Mar-a-Lago before it happened.

A jury has been selected in the second trial of two men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer over their disgust with restrictions early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The first trial of Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. ended in a mistrial in April when the jury couldn't reach a unanimous verdict against them.

Two men accused of coming up with a plan to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 are facing a second trial this week.

Two men accused of crafting a plan to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 and ignite a national rebellion are facing a second trial this week, months after a jury couldn't reach a verdict on the pair while acquitting two others. The result in April was a blow to federal prosecutors, who had set out to show that extremists were committed to snatching Whitmer and causing chaos close to the election between Joe Biden and then-President Donald Trump. The trial of Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. means another public airing of secretly recorded conversations, text messages and chilling social media posts.

A jury last week couldn't reach a unanimous verdict for two men charged with a conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

That a jury didn't convict any of the four men charged with planning to kidnap Michigan Gov_ Gretchen Whitmer is further evidence of the political polarization in the U_S_ A defense lawyer for one of the men says it shows freedom still exists, and that the men's actions were nothing more than “rough talk.”.

Jurors have acquitted two defendants of all charges in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer but couldn't agree on a verdict for two others.

Jurors acquitted two men and deadlocked on two others accused of plotting to abduct Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020.

Two of four men were acquitted Friday in a conspiracy to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020, motivated by fury at the Democrat's tough COVID-19 restrictions early in the pandemic.

A Michigan jury has ended its fourth day of deliberations without having reached verdicts in the trial of four men accused of scheming to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Three days and still no verdict.

Jurors deliberating at the trial of four men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer must answer a key question about whether the FBI engaged in entrapment.

Jurors haven't come up with a verdict yet after two days of deliberations in the trial of four men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Jurors have gone home without reaching a verdict after the first day of deliberations in the trial of four men accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta are charged with conspiracy, and three also face weapons charges.

Jurors have heard closing arguments and will begin deliberations Monday in the trial of four men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

The defense has rested and evidence is over in the trial of four men charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Prosecutors in Michigan have rested their case against four men charged with planning to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer before the 2020 national election.

The core question at the trial of four men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is whether the FBI engaged in entrapment.

Jurors have seen provocative social media posts written by a key figure charged in a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor.

Prosecutors say Adam Fox wanted to blow up a bridge near Whitmer's second home to thwart any police response to a kidnapping.

An FBI agent who was working undercover says two key people in the plot to kidnap Michigan's governor were excited to get their hands on explosives.

Kaleb Franks, who pleaded guilty in February, spoke as a witness in the trial against four other men charged in the Whitmer kidnapping plot.

Jurors in Grand Rapids, Michigan, now have heard from two men who said they were all-in on a stunning plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Jurors in Grand Rapids, Michigan, are hearing from a second man who pleaded guilty in a scheme to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

A man charged with planning to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was jubilant in 2020 when the state Supreme Court struck down COVID-19 orders.

Jurors in Michigan have heard from an Army veteran who became an FBI informant after hearing members of a militia talk about killing police.

Jurors have unflattering snapshots so far of four men charged with plotting to strike back against government by kidnapping Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

A key figure in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov_ Gretchen Whitmer was secretly recorded telling an undercover FBI agent that he wanted to restrain the “tyrant” on a table, then pose for a photo “like we just made the biggest drug bust.”.

A key figure in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told an undercover FBI agent that he wanted to restrain the “tyrant” on a table then pose for a photo “like we just made the biggest drug bust," according to a secret recording played for jurors Thursday. Agent Mark Schweers told the jury that he was posing as someone with like-minded views from Michigan's Upper Peninsula when he met Adam Fox in the basement of a vacuum shop in suburban Grand Rapids, a hideaway accessed by a trap door. Fox didn't know that Schweers was wearing a recording device as he talked excitedly about attacking the Michigan Capitol, teaming up with a militia called the Wolverine Watchmen, and restoring a “constitutional republic.”

The trial of four men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has been postponed until Thursday because an “essential” participant has tested positive for COVID-19.

After more than two days of testimony, jurors have unflattering snapshots of four men who are charged with planning to strike back against government by kidnapping Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer from her weekend home. Prosecutors introduced videos, messages and secretly recorded conversations full of antigovernment screeds, mostly expressed by Barry Croft Jr. and Adam Fox, who are described as the leaders. Evidence presented early in what's likely to be a weekslong trial has bounced from Michigan to gatherings in Ohio and Wisconsin and an arrest in New Jersey — and not always in order.

Prosecutors have played covertly recorded audio for jurors in which a man charged in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer specifically mentions abducting the Democrat.

Prosecutors in the trial of four men charged with plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday played covertly recorded audio for jurors in which one of the men specifically discusses a plan to abduct the Democrat. In the recording, made by a government informant during a meeting in mid-July 2020 in Wisconsin, Barry Croft Jr. describes the possibility of using explosives to “rain down” fire on law enforcement “with a team standing by” to abduct Whitmer. In another recording made by the same informant, jurors heard the sound of an explosives test Croft was conducting.

Attorneys for four men charged with planning to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are telling jurors they were swayed by informants and federal agents who targeted them for their anti-government views.

The four men charged with planning to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were swayed by informants and federal agents who targeted them for their anti-government views, defense attorneys said Wednesday, portraying the men as big talkers and wannabes who never meant what they said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Roth argued that the men were “willing, eager, if not already preparing” to get Whitmer before investigators infiltrated the group. Investigators stepped in and stopped a “tragedy” when the men were planning to acquire a bomb to blow up a bridge near Whitmer’s home to stop police from quickly responding, Roth told jurors during his opening statement in federal court in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Four members of anti-government groups are facing trial this week on federal charges accusing them of plotting to abduct Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020.

Note: A full copy of the superseding indictment can be viewed here. WASHINGTON – A federal grand jury in Michigan returned a superseding indictment today that adds new charges of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction against three defendants and adds federal firearms violations against two defendants in the case alleging a conspiracy to kidnap the governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer. Defendant Ty Garbin entered a guilty plea in December 2020 to the original indictment charging him with conspiracy to kidnap Governor Whitmer. Fox, Croft, and Harris each face up to life in prison if convicted of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction. Croft and Harris each face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of possession of an unregistered destructive device.