HAZEL PARK, Mich. — FBI agents have raided a Hazel Park home while investigating threats to the judge and defense lawyers in the Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping conspiracy trial, The Detroit News has learned.
Agents are investigating threats directed at several people, including Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker and defense lawyers Josh Blanchard and Christopher Gibbons, according to two sources familiar with the investigation who were not authorized to speak publicly about the probe. Jonker is presiding over the trial and the attorneys represent accused plot ringleaders Barry Croft and Adam Fox, respectively.
There have been no arrests since the Friday raid, which coincided with the third week of trial in federal court in Grand Rapids and a rise in threats against federal judges nationwide. Croft, 46, of Delaware and Fox, 38, of Potterville are standing trial alongside Lake Orion resident Daniel Harris, 24, and Brandon Caserta, 33, of Canton Township, and the group faces up to life in prison if convicted of kidnapping conspiracy.
