Whitmer Kidnapping plotter sentenced to 16 years in prison

Adam Fox was sentenced by a federal judge for conspiring to kidnap Democratic officials in August. Michigan Gov. Gretchen WhitmerOn Tuesday, he was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment

According to prosecutors, Fox was among the leaders of the scheme against the governor. The scheme was stopped by federal agents who infiltrated Fox’s circle during a roughly 10-month investigation.

“Mr. Fox was probably a person more than anyone else who was pumping up the idea,” U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker said during Fox’s sentencing, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Fox was convicted of conspiring to kidnap the governor alongside Barry Croft, who prosecutors characterized as the plot’s idea man. The conspiracy to kidnap and conspiring to get a weapon of Mass Destruction charges were both pressed against the pair. Croft is due to be sentenced Wednesday.

“Mr. Fox, and his confederate Mr. Croft, were convicted by a jury of masterminding a plot to kidnap the Governor of Michigan and to use weapons of mass destruction against responding law enforcement,” said Matthew Olsen is the assistant attorney general for national defense for the Department of Justice.

“Today’s sentence reflects the Department of Justice’s unwavering commitment to protecting our elected officials, law enforcement officers, and dedicated public servants from criminal threats and violence — and to holding the perpetrators of such acts fully accountable under the law,” Olsen said.

Jonker stated that Fox was a key player in the plot’s advancement, but that the conspirator wasn’t a natural leader. The judge appeared to agree with Fox’s attorney Christopher Gibbons’ request for mercy for his client and avoid a life sentence.

“(T)he Government in its memorandum employs exaggerated language to create the false narrative of a terrifying paramilitary leader,” According to the court documents, Gibbons claimed that he argued for Gibbons. Detroit Free Press. “Adam Fox is described as creating an army with a cadre of operators. … These histrionic descriptions of Adam Fox do not rationally address his actual conduct and they do not accurately reflect either his actual intentions or his actual capabilities.”

“Adam Fox was an unemployed vacuum repairman who was venting his frustrations on social media but abiding by the laws of the State of Michigan. Adam Fox is not the leader of a multistate ‘army’ of domestic terrorists,” Gibbons stated.

Fox’s sentencing comes after three men were sentenced in a state court earlier this month for providing material support to a terrorist act in relation to the kidnapping plot.