密歇根州特拉弗斯市——一个联邦大陪审团指控六名男子阴谋绑架密歇根州州长格雷琴·惠特默，调查人员称这是反政府极端分子的阴谋，他们对她的冠状病毒政策感到愤怒。
美国律师安德鲁·比奇(Andrew Birge)周四公布的起诉书对亚当·迪恩·福克斯(Adam Dean Fox)、巴里·戈登·克罗夫特(Barry Gordon Croft Jr .)、泰·杰拉德·加宾(Ty Gerard Garbin)、卡莱布·詹姆斯·弗兰克斯(Kaleb James Franks)、丹尼尔·约瑟夫·哈里斯(Daniel Joseph Harris)和布兰登·迈克尔-雷除了住在特拉华州的克罗夫特，他们都来自密歇根州。
伯奇在一份声明中说，这项指控最高可判终身监禁。
这六人是在10月初被捕的，此前美国联邦调查局(FBI)对涉嫌在密歇根州北部的度假屋绑架民主党州长的阴谋进行了调查。
辩护律师说，他们的客户是“大言不惭的人”，他们不打算贯彻所谓的计划。
起诉书重复了10月份听证会上提出的指控，代理人理查德·特拉斯克作证说，这些人与准军事组织有牵连。
起诉书称，福克斯和克罗夫特参加了6月在俄亥俄州都柏林举行的一次会议，会上讨论了可能绑架州长和其他行动。在听证会上，柴斯克说弗吉尼亚的民主党州长拉尔夫·诺瑟姆是被提到的潜在目标之一。
据说福克斯后来在兰辛密歇根国会大厦外的一次集会上遇到了加宾，他是密歇根一个名为“金刚狼守望者”的团体的领导人。文件称，在大急流城的一次会议上，这两个人和守望者的其他成员同意“为他们的共同目标”一起工作。
它描述了实弹“野外训练演习”和其他准备工作，包括对惠特莫尔度假屋的监视和加密信息的交换。
起诉书称，在一次训练活动中，“他们分组练习攻击一栋建筑，并讨论了用简易爆炸装置、射弹发射器和其他武器对抗州长安全部队的策略”。
报告称，他们还讨论了摧毁惠特默家附近的一座公路桥，以阻止执法部门做出回应。
起诉书称，在一封电子邮件中，Caserta写道，如果这些人在侦察任务中遇到警察，“他们应该给警察一个离开的机会，如果他们不遵守，就杀了他们。”
起诉书称，在四名成员计划于10月7日在底特律西部的伊普西兰蒂会见一名联邦调查局特工并购买炸药和其他用品后，他们被逮捕。
另外八名据说是金刚狼守望者的成员或同伙的男子在州法院被控包括为恐怖主义行为提供物质支持在内的罪名。他们中的一些人被指控参与了针对惠特莫尔的所谓阴谋。
6 men indicted in alleged plot to kidnap Michigan governor
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. -- A federal grand jury has charged six men with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in what investigators say was a plot by anti-government extremists who were angry over her coronavirus policies.
The indictment released Thursday by U.S. Attorney Andrew Birge levied the conspiracy charge against Adam Dean Fox, Barry Gordon Croft Jr., Ty Gerard Garbin, Kaleb James Franks, Daniel Joseph Harris and Brandon Michael-Ray Caserta. They are all from Michigan except for Croft, who lives in Delaware.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, Birge said in a statement.
The six were arrested in early October following an FBI investigation into an alleged plot to kidnap the Democratic governor at her vacation home in northern Michigan.
Defense attorneys have said their clients were “big talkers” who didn’t intend to follow through on the alleged plan.
The indictment repeats allegations made during an October hearing, where agent Richard Trask testified that the men were involved with paramilitary groups.
Fox and Croft attended a June meeting in Dublin, Ohio, at which the possible kidnapping of governors and other actions were discussed, the indictment states. During the hearing, Trask said Virginia's Democratic governor, Ralph Northam, was among those mentioned as potential targets.
It says Fox later met Garbin, a leader of a Michigan group called the “Wolverine Watchmen,” at a rally outside of the Michigan Capitol in Lansing. At a meeting in Grand Rapids, the two men and other members of the Watchmen agreed to work together “toward their common goals,” the document says.
It describes live-fire “field training exercises” and other preparations, including the surveillance of Whitmer's vacation house and the exchange of encrypted messages.
During one training event, “they practiced assaulting a building in teams, and discussed tactics for fighting the governor's security detail with improvised explosive devices, a projectile launcher, and other weapons,” the indictment says.
They also discussed destroying a highway bridge near Whitmer's house to prevent law enforcement from responding, it states.
The indictment says that in an electronic message, Caserta wrote that if the men encountered police during a reconnaissance mission, “they should give the officers one opportunity to leave, and kill them if they did not comply.”
They were arrested after four members scheduled an Oct. 7 meeting in Ypsilanti, west of Detroit, to meet an undercover FBI agent and buy explosives and other supplies, the indictment says.
Eight other men who are said to be members or associates of the Wolverine Watchmen are charged in state court with counts including providing material support for terrorist acts. Some of them are accused of taking part in the alleged plot against Whitmer.
