By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


A Livingston County man charged with conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has entered a guilty plea.

25-year-old Ty Garbin of Hartland Township was in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids Wednesday morning, where he entered a guilty plea to a single count of kidnapping conspiracy, a charge punishable by up to life in prison and/or a $250,000 fine. He will be sentenced on July 8th by U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker.

Garbin’s guilty plea is a major catch for prosecutors, only about four months after arrests were made. His testimony would strengthen the government’s case against the others and back up evidence collected by informants and undercover agents.

Garbin was arrested October 7th after an FBI team raided his home in the Hartland Meadows manufactured home community. Authorities say the raid was one of several as they broke up the plot to kidnap and potentially kill Whitmer by anti-government extremists upset over her coronavirus restrictions.

Six people, including Garbin, were charged in federal court in Grand Rapids while eight others were charged in state court with aiding the alleged scheme.

In the plea agreement, which is posted below, Garbin admitted that he and the other defendants met on June 20, 2020 in Grand Rapids, where two of the other members of the group; Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., said they had attended a meeting in Dublin, Ohio, near Columbus, where they discussed "...'fixing' their local governments and removing 'tyrants' from office." Fox is said to have reiterated his plan to storm the Michigan Capitol building using Molotov cocktails and improvised explosive devices (IED) to hinder law enforcement. Then at a meeting on June 28, 2020, Garbin states that Fox said he planned to "hang the governor" after storming the Capitol.

The plot, he said, eventually switched to Whitmer’s second home in Antrim County. Garbin said he “advocated waiting until after the national election, when the conspirators expected widespread civil unrest to make it easier for them to operate.”

In September, the six men trained at Garbin’s property near Luther, Michigan, constructing a “shoot house” to resemble Whitmer’s vacation home and “assaulting it with firearms,” the plea deal states.

The men also made trips to Antrim County to surveil the home and the area, Garbin said.

Garbin said he sent a text message to someone who turned out to be a government informant, indicating that “if the bridge goes down it will stop the wave,” a suggestion that police would be delayed in responding to a kidnapping if a nearby bridge was blown up. He said he also offered to paint his boat black for another night of surveillance.

A “big talk” defense had emerged last fall as a strategy for the six men. However, the plea agreement indicates that Garbin will "fully cooperate" with prosecutors including truthful testimony in future court hearings.

The other defendants; Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta, are set to stand trial March 23.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.