Co-leader of Whitmer kidnapping plot receives 16 years in prison
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The co-leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was sentenced Tuesday to 16 years in prison for conspiring to abduct the Democrat and blow up a bridge to ease an escape.
Adam Fox’s sentence is the longest of anyone convicted in the plot so far, though it's significantly shorter than the life sentence that prosecutors sought.
Fox, 39, returned to federal court four months after he and Barry Croft Jr. were convicted of conspiracy charges at a second trial in Grand Rapids, Mich.
They were accused of organizing a wild plot to whip up anti-government extremists just before the 2020 presidential election.
The government said Croft offered bomb-making skills and ideology while Fox was the “driving force urging their recruits to take up arms, kidnap the governor and kill those who stood in their way.”
But Judge Robert J. Jonker said while Fox’s sentence was needed as a punishment and deterrent to future similar acts, the government’s request for life in prison is “not necessary to achieve those purposes.”
“It’s too much. Something less than life gets the job done in this case,” Jonker said.
In addition to the prison sentence, Fox will have to serve five years of supervised release. He’ll also get credit for more than two years in custody since his arrest.
Fox and Croft were convicted at a second trial in August, months after a different Grand Rapids jury couldn’t reach a verdict but acquitted Daniel Harris and one other man. Croft, a trucker from Bear, Del., will be sentenced Wednesday.