2nd man guilty in Michigan kidnap plot
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Prosecutors bagged a second conviction Wednesday in a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, gaining another critical witness just weeks before four other men face trial.
Kaleb Franks pleaded guilty to conspiracy. He said he agreed to participate in a scheme to get the Democratic governor, who was targeted because of her restrictive policies during the early months of the covid-19 pandemic.
The FBI had infiltrated the group of six men and broke up the plan with a series of arrests in October 2020, just as the presidential election campaign neared a close.
With his plea, Franks joined co-defendant Ty Garbin in admitting guilt and agreeing to help prosecutors at the March 8 trial. Franks faces a prison term, but his cooperation could lead to a lighter sentence in the months ahead.
Franks replied, “yes, sir,” to a series of questions from U.S. Magistrate Judge Phillip Green, who went over many details in the plea agreement.
Seven pages of the 19-page document signed by Franks offer a road map of the plot. It repeatedly mentions his work with the four remaining co-defendants, from firearms training in Wisconsin and Michigan to surveillance of Whitmer’s second home in northern Michigan.
Franks said he connected online in spring 2020 with the Wolverine Watchmen, a self-styled militia group, attended a protest and soon learned how to download an encrypted messaging app “to conceal discussion of illegal activity,” according to his plea agreement.
The others facing trial are Adam Fox, who is described as a ringleader, Barry Croft Jr., Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta.
“During all their months of training together, [Franks] never heard Fox, Croft, Harris or Caserta say they were doing anything because” informants had pushed for it, the plea agreement states.
Green asked Franks about the construction of a “shoot house” during firearm training.
It was a “mock-up of the governor’s home,” Franks replied.
After the hearing, defense attorney Scott Graham declined to comment about Franks’ decision to plead guilty.
Garbin, who quickly began assisting the government after his arrest and even testified to the grand jury that produced the indictment, pleaded guilty in 2021 and was sentenced to slightly more than six years in prison.