Far-Right Extremist Faces Life Imprisonment After Pleading Guilty to Plotting Gretchen Whitmer Kidnapping

     On August 26th, 2021, Ty Garbin, the first man to plead guilty in the attempted kidnapping of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, was sentenced to 75 months in federal prison. Garbin, whose main role in the October 2020 plot, against primarily Whitmer but also Virginia Governor Ralph Northam and others, was letting seven other men use his property for weapons and tactical training. Upset over the mask mandate and stay-at-home order in Michigan, they plotted to kidnap her from her summer home, hold her for ransom, and kill her if the ransom was not met.

     Now, on February 8th, 2022, a second guilty plea has been secured. Kaleb Franks, 27, pleaded guilty to attempted kidnapping, a felony punishable by up to life in prison but that would likely carry a sentence of anywhere between five and ten years in exchange for cooperation. The cooperation of Franks as well as that of Garbin is crucial for one main reason: the defense of the other 12 defendants is entrapment, that the FBI led the conversation that took place. If Garbin and Franks can explain to the jury, a jury of regular citizens who often misconstrue the real definition of the word "entrapment," precisely how each of the remaining defendants were not led along by the FBI but actually advanced this plot, a conviction becomes much easier and a decades-long prison sentence for each of the other defendants much more probable.

     Kaleb Franks is batshit crazy, which is ironic for someone who studied clinical psychology at Washtenaw Community College. A former cocaine and heroin addict who broke into homes to finance his addiction, he sobered up and became a peer addiction counselor in Waterford. His role in the plot was spending $4,000 on night vision goggles, helmets, and other paramilitary equipment.

     Both men are expected to testify against Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Daniel Harris, and Brandon Caserta, the four remaining suspects charged in federal court, whose trial date is set for March 8th, 2022. Meanwhile, state charges are still pending against Pete Musico, Joseph Morrison, Shawn Fix, Eric Molitor, Michael and William Null, Paul Bellar, and Brian Higgins, the other eight defendants charged in this egregious act of plotted political violence. Higgins, the sole defendant from Wisconsin, is the author's number one priority of the remaining eight.