Man Involved In Gretchen Whitmer Kidnapping Plot Sentenced After Agreeing To Cooperate

     Ty Garbin's life was already one of mediocrity and failure, and maybe that has something to do with why he decided to try to kidnap Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, in October 2020. He was born in Wayne County but lived in a trailer park in Livingston County at the time of his arrest, working as an airplane mechanic. His father was an Army veteran who, according to the younger Garbin, beat him as a child and continued to abuse an adult man somehow.

     Garbin became involved with the violent alt-right Wolverine Watchmen when he met them at a Second Amendment rally in Lansing. Throughout the summer of 2020, fanned by Donald Trump's vitriol against the "woman from Michigan," Garbin offered his home for weapons training, stalked Whitmer's summer home, offered to paint his boat in a planned lakeside kidnapping, and suggested blowing up a local bridge to distract law enforcement.

     It was all in extensive text records, and Garbin decided to change his plea from "not guilty" to "guilty" in January 2021. He also agreed to become a cooperating witness. In spite of this, he still faced sentencing guidelines of 14 to 17.5 years in prison. Because he had no criminal history, on August 25th, 2021, he was sentenced to 75 months, or 6.25 years, in federal prison followed by three years probation and a lifetime ban on owning weapons. He received credit for the many months he had already spent in jail, and he will be eligible for release in 2026 and remain on supervised release until at least 2029. Safe to say, he probably will no longer see the need in attending Second Amendment rallies.

     Garbin played a significant role in the middle of every element of the conspiracy, and his plea and sentencing means that he will likely be the star witness against the other defendants, all of whom still face life imprisonment. One down, 13 to go.