Ty G. Garbin, a 25-year old airplane mechanic, pleaded guilty to conspiracy in federal court on January 27, 2021. He and five other men were charged in federal court with plotting to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. The other defendants are Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, and Brandon Caserta. A trial is scheduled for March 23.

Garbin agreed to testify against the other five defendants of an anti-government militia group who were charged in federal court in Western Michigan. Eight other men were accused in state court of working on the violent plans, and Garbin will testify against them, too. His testimony could enhance the government’s case against the others and support evidence collected by informants and undercover agents.

Judge Robert J. Jonker questioned Garbin, who admitted he realized his testimony could hurt people he knows. When asked if he had second thoughts about the plea agreement, Garbin said, “I do not, your honor.” His sentencing is scheduled for July 8. The plea agreement does not include a sentence reduction.

The defendants were accused of planning to kidnap Ms. Whitmer sometime around the November 3 election and either abandon her in a boat on Lake Michigan or take her to another state, maybe Wisconsin, and put her on trial. They called her a tyrant for restrictions the state had put in place because of the coronavirus.

When the kidnapping case was filed, Whitmer blamed Trump in part, claiming his refusal to denounce far-right groups inspired extremists across the U.S.

Political tensions in Michigan had been building all year with protests against lockdowns that armed groups helped organize beginning in April. Trump had tweeted “Liberate Michigan!” at around that time. Two of the accused were among the protesters that entered the Michigan Statehouse last spring dressed in camouflage and carrying long guns.

The group also discussed a military-style assault on the Statehouse, as well as attacks against the Michigan State Police. The plea agreement included new details about those plans.

Garbin and several others of the accused were members of the Wolverine Watchmen, an organization that discussed and rehearsed various efforts to attack the government, the court papers said. The Wolverine Watchmen is an armed organization. Their plans were explained in detail at several meetings and “field training exercises” in Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. In September, six men trained at Garbin’s property near Luther, Michigan.

In one of their field training exercises in Wisconsin, the group used plywood, a door frame and shipping pallets to create a “shoot house” so they could practice breaching the Michigan Capitol and other buildings. The accused leader of the group, Fox, supposedly sought 200 recruits for the attack, which was later abandoned as too complicated.

The defendants visited Whitmer’s vacation home in Michigan twice while plotting to kidnap her, and planned to buy explosives to blow up a bridge to prevent police from responding to their attack. They changed their plan from snatching her at the capitol to taking her from her second home. Garbin said he had “advocated waiting until after the national election, when the conspirators expected widespread civil unrest to make it easier for them to operate.” At one point Garbin had texted a message to someone who turned out to be a government informant saying, “if the bridge goes down it will stop the wave,” meaning police would be delayed in responding to a kidnapping if the bridge was gone.

The field training also included attempts to build homemade bombs composed of gunpowder, shrapnel, and fireworks for ignition.

Gary K. Springstead, the lead lawyer for Garbin, said his client already faced a life sentence for the kidnapping charge, which is a felony. Additional charges for weapons or explosives were possible; the plea agreement could help reduce jail time for the kidnapping plot and prevent further charges.

In the preliminary hearing, Springstead focused on the premise that the men were practicing their First and Second Amendment rights when denigrating the governor. He said that defense was made more difficult because the men had cased the governor’s house. “There was a line that was crossed, something that you cannot undo,” Springstead said.

The group had an encrypted chat room where Fox posted pictures and video of Governor Whitmer’s vacation home. Garber and the others discussed what to do if Biden won the election and selected Whitmer for his Cabinet, since then she’d have Secret Service protection. They talked about attacking her security detail and potentially using a shoulder-fired weapon to destroy a lead vehicle in her convoy.

Croft, Jr., a defendant from Delaware, said he’d bought an AR-15 military-style rifle with a projectile launcher for that purpose. According to the plea agreement, Fox also told the men he had zip ties and a Taser to help “neutralize” the governor.

The government had two undercover agents and two informants from inside the armed paramilitary group to build the case against the men.

Springstead said Garbin regretted what he had done. “Everyone is entitled to their thoughts about what a governor should or should not do, but he realized that he had made a terrible mistake,” Springstead said.

Last fall, Mark Satawa, another defense attorney for Garbin, said his client had no intention of carrying out a kidnapping, regardless of what was said in recorded or online conversations. “This is about our client saying, ‘Look, I need to own up to what I did. It was wrong. I’m accepting responsibility. I’m sorry for having done it,” Satawa told the press.