GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The second of two ringleaders in the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to 19.6 years in prison and five years of supervised release, the longest sentence of anyone involved in the plot to date.
But the nearly 20-year sentence for Delaware truck driver Barry Croft, 47, on Wednesday and the 16-year prison sentence and five years of probation for codefendant Adam Fox, 39, on Tuesday surprised former Detroit U.S. Attorney Matthew Schneider, who was involved in the initial investigation and charges. Schneider thought the time behind bars would be longer.
The kidnapping plot is the largest domestic terrorism case in a generation, and the sentences for Croft and Fox could set benchmarks for how federal political extremism cases are handled in the future. They were arrested in early October 2020 and accused of hatching the plot to kidnap Whitmer and foment a second Civil War due to distrust of the government and anger over COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
