Second defendant pleads guilty in Whitmer kidnapping plot

A second man pleaded guilty to charges in connection to a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) on Wednesday. 

Kaleb Franks, 27, said in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, Mich., that he and other members of the Wolverine Watchmen, a Michigan-based militia group, planned to kidnap the governor over her implementation of COVID-19 restrictions at the start of the pandemic, according to ABC News. 

Franks also told U.S. Magistrate Judge Phillip Green that the plan was devised by himself and others charged in the kidnapping plot. 

When asked by the judge if any law enforcement officer suggested kidnapping the governor, Franks replied “no,” according to ABC.

Franks said in his plea agreement that he was heavily involved in the scheme which included meetings, surveillance and training sessions, ABC reported. 

Attorneys for the other men in the trial attempted to get the charges dismissed in March, arguing that the defendants had been entrapped. However, that motion ultimately failed, the outlet noted. 

Franks’s guilty plea comes after 25-year-old Ty Garbin was sentenced in August to six years and three months in prison in addition to three years of probation and a $2,500 fine for his part in the scheme. 

Garbin is expected to testify in the upcoming trial of four of the other men allegedly involved in the scheme including Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, ABC added.

Undercover law enforcement officers stopped the plan to kidnap the governor, but the group’s initial plans allegedly included intentions of using high-level firearms and bombing a bridge near the Whitmer’s vacation home.