One of Michigan’s militiamen accused of conspiring to overthrow the state government kidnapped Governor Gretchen Whitmer and put her on trial for “treason” before election day pleaded guilty to the frustrated plot.
Ty Garbin, 25, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to the kidnapping conspiracy, marking the first conviction in the bizarre case that made national headlines in October. Fourteen men were accused of conspiring to kidnap Whitmer and discuss plans to attack the state capitol building and a police facility and possibly take out Virginia governor Ralph Northam as well. Prosecutors allege that the group, which included several militia members, was frustrated by strict orders to block COVID-19 in Democratic-ruled states.
Under the plea agreement, Garbin agreed to “cooperate fully” with federal authorities, the US Attorney’s Office, the Michigan State Police and other law enforcement agencies.
During a hearing on Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker emphasized to Garbin that, as part of the agreement, he can be “called to court and forced to tell the truth … even if it ends up hurting people you know. Do you think you could do that? ”
“I could, Your Honor,” Garbin replied.
The 25-year-old also agreed to take a polygraph test and testify against his co-conspirators. Garbin is among the six men – along with Adam Fox, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, Brandon Caserta and Barry Croft – federally accused in October of conspiracy to commit kidnapping.
Eight others linked to the Wolverine Watchmen militia group have been charged with terrorism crimes for allegedly participating in planning the attack on the Capitol and trying to “instigate a Civil War”. Garbin and three others facing federal charges were also members of the Michigan-based self-styled militia group, according to the court settlement.
An FBI statement states that, through a member of a militia group that became an informant, federal agents learned last year that the men were planning “the violent overthrow of certain components of government and law enforcement” and taking “violent action” against state governments that they believed to be violating the United States Constitution. This included Whitmer’s kidnapping in retaliation for his “uncontrolled power” in the midst of the pandemic, according to the statement.
Garbin met Fox at a “Second Amendment” rally on June 20 outside the state capitol. At the rally, Fox said he wanted to “recruit 200 people to invade the Capitol, try all the politicians they caught for ‘treason’ and execute them by hanging on live television.”
That same day, Garbin and other leaders Wolverine Watchman met with Fox, who proposed using Molotov cocktails and other IEDs “to distract and hinder law enforcement during the operation.”
Although the original plan was to hijack her in the last week of October, investigators claim that Fox believed it should take place a week earlier to have more time before the 2020 presidential election.
“Grab it and grab it, man,” he said to Fox on a recorded call in July 2020. “Grab the fucking governor. Just get the bitch. Because at that point, we do that, man – it’s over. “
In the plea bargain, Garbin admitted that he “defended waiting until after the national election, when the conspirators expected widespread civil unrest to make it easier for them to operate.”
The group conspired for several months to kidnap Whitmer and engaged in tactical training, including several unsuccessful attempts to make bombs, investigators claimed.
While an earlier plan was to break into the Capitol building and kidnap Whitmer, the group decided that their vacation home was more isolated. In court documents, prosecutors said the men discussed several ways to kidnap Whitmer, including an iteration where they would use a boat to escape with her. The members then discussed the possibility of embarking on Lake Michigan and leaving Whitmer in the middle of the Great Lake.
Prosecutors said Garbin was a voluntary participant in planning the attack on the vacation home. He organized a training session at his rural Michigan home and made explosives using black powder and balloons. At a hearing, FBI special agent Richard Trask said that Garbin even suggested “shooting the governor’s vacation home.”
“He said he was ‘cool’ to go after the governor’s vacation home, however, even if it only resulted in [the] destruction of property, ”Trask wrote in a sworn statement. “Garbin offered to paint his personal boat black to support the surveillance of the vacation home on the lake where the vacation home is located.”
In September, however, investigators say the plan began to fall apart after the FBI informant introduced a secret agent to the group, who posed as an explosives expert. The plea bargain indicates that in a Sept. 19 chat, Fox told Garbin that he was preparing the basement of a vacuum cleaner supply store as a training center to prepare to kidnap Whitmer, adding that he had a Taser and zip ties “which would be nice to ‘neutralize’ the governor. “
The men were arrested on October 8, after the FBI and Michigan State Police raided several homes.
At previous hearings, Garbin’s defense attorney insisted that his client had no intention of kidnapping Whitmer and was just speaking boldly among friends.
“Saying things like ‘I hate the governor, the governor is tyrannical’ … is not illegal, even if you are holding a gun and running through the forest when you do that,” said Mark Satawa in October.