2nd suspect in Michigan governor kidnapping plot to plead guilty, says he 'knowingly and voluntarily' joined plot

DETROIT — After trying everything he could, Kaleb Franks has cut a deal with the government in which he will plead guilty to his role in the alleged plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and testify against his co-defendants, according to a new court filing.

A 19-page plea agreement was filed in Grand Rapids federal court Monday on behalf of Franks, whose lawyer had filed multiple requests in recent weeks hoping to advance his entrapment defense. Nearly all were denied.

"The defendant agrees to plead guilty to the superseding indictment, which charges him with kidnapping conspiracy," states the plea agreement, which also notes that Franks, 27, "understands the crime."

And perhaps most notably, it asserts the following, which contradicts the entrapment defense that he and his co-defendants have been hammering away at for months: "The defendant knowingly and voluntarily joined that agreement."

So did his alleged cohorts, states Franks' plea deal, which harpoons the heart of the groups' defense: that paid informants who infiltrated their group induced them into saying and doing things that they wouldn't have otherwise.

“(Franks) was not entrapped or induced to commit any crimes by these individuals. (He) also knows (his co-defendants) were not entrapped, based on personal observation and discussions,” the plea deal states.

The defendants are: Adam Fox, 38, of Potterville, who is accused of being the ringleader; Barry Croft, 46, of Bear, Delaware; Daniel Harris, 24, of Lake Orion, and Brandon Caserta, 33, of Canton. A sixth defendant, Ty Garbin, previously struck a plea deal, got six years in prison, and has agreed to testify against the others.

According to his plea deal, Franks “frequently heard Fox and Croft initiate conversations about fighting government authority and kidnapping the governor without prompting." He also heard “Harris and Caserta express similar anti-government sentiments during his private discussions with them, when no government informant was present.”

“During all their months of training together, (Franks) never heard Fox, Croft, Harris, or Caserta say they were doing anything because … Dan … Steve, or any other informant had advocated it,” the plea deal states.

Franks would later learn that several members whom he believed to be fellow cohorts were actually undercover informants or agents: "Dan" and "Steve" were the fake names of paid informants who had infiltrated the group.

Franks' filing comes one month before the case is scheduled to go to trial in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids on charges that six members plotted to kidnap Whitmer out of anger over her COVID-19 restrictions.

In the last month, Frank's lawyer had filed multiple requests with the court to advance his entrapment defense — almost all of which were shot down.

More on the case: How the FBI spent months tracking the plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

What the plea deal reveals about the kidnapping plot

In his plea deal, Franks offers a detailed look at what went down during four months in 2020, when the Wolverine Watchmen, a Michigan-based self-styled "militia" group, allegedly plotted to kidnap the governor, but wound up in handcuffs as the FBI was watching their every step.

For four months, between June-October 2020, Franks conspired with five men to kidnap the governor of Michigan, according to the plea deal.

Franks attended numerous field training exercises with the Watchman, including one in which a co-defendant brought an “AR-15 type semiautomatic assault rifle, with a short barrel, a silencer, and a 37-millimetermprojectile launcher” and bomb making materials.

At that exercise, two defendants assembled two homemade bombs, though they were unsuccessful in detonating them.

At another meeting, the group talked about planting explosive devices at Michigan State Police posts, with Fox allegedly saying that they could “storm the Capitol with 200 men, using machine guns and snipers.”

More meetings followed. Fox’s kidnapping idea was discussed.

“(Franks) knowingly and voluntarily joined that plan,” states the plea agreement.

By late August, fears grew within the group that they had been infiltrated. Members brought documents to prove their identities and the group started using a new encrypted chat application that would allow them to instantly delete their messages to avoid detection by the FBI.

Then they cased the governor’s house – twice.

But before meeting up for a final field training exercise in October, the FBI got to them first.

On Oct. 30, 2020, they were arrested in a sting at a warehouse, where according to prosecutors, the men thought they were going to make a down payment on explosives. Instead, the FBI was waiting with handcuffs.

In his plea agreement, Franks has agreed to “fully cooperate with the FBI, the U.S. Attorneys office, the Michigan Attorney General's office” and other law enforcement agencies investigating the alleged kidnap plot and similar crimes.

Franks and his co-defendants face up to life in prison if convicted.

Cooperating typically leads to a lighter sentence, as it did with Garbin, who got six years after pleading guilty and agreeing to cooperate.

No details about Franks' potential lighter sentence were listed in his plea agreement.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot suspect to plead guilty