A man charged in a plot to kidnap the governor of the U.S. state of Michigan pleaded guilty to conspiracy Wednesday.
Ty Garbin is one of 14 charged in the scheme.
Garbin, 25, faced 25 years to life, but prosecutors said they agreed to lighten the sentence in exchange for his cooperation. That will likely strengthen the government's case against the remaining defendants.
The group was reportedly upset by Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s coronavirus shutdowns.
In a federal court in Grand Rapids on Wednesday, Garbin admitted to training with weapons, discussing a plan to storm the state capitol, and casing the governor’s second home where the group decided to act. They also planned to blow up a bridge near the second home to slow down attempts to capture them.
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.”
The plot was broken up by the FBI, and Garbin reportedly texted details of the plot to a government informant.
Last fall, Garbin’s attorney, Mark Satawa, said his client was never was really going to participate in the kidnapping and that it was all “big talk.”
“Saying things like, ‘I hate the governor, the governor is tyrannical’ ... is not illegal, even if you’re holding a gun and running around the woods when you do it,” Satawa said in October.
The other federal defendants are Adam Fox, Barry Croft Jr., Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta.
