A man suspected of plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was pardoned by Delaware’s Democratic governor last year.
Delaware Gov. John Carney signed a pardon in 2019 for Barry Gordon Croft Jr., who has now been charged in a foiled plot to kidnap Whitmer, according to Delaware Online.
Croft, 44, was pardoned for various charges, including assault, burglary, and the possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, that resulted from a string of crimes committed in the mid-1990s.
Carney confirmed the pardon Friday, saying through a spokesman that Croft’s new federal charges were “disturbing” and that everyone allegedly involved in the plot should be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced the arrests of 13 people this week as part of a plot by “militia members” to kidnap Whitmer, who they viewed as a “tyrant.”
“Several members talked about murdering ‘tyrants’ or ‘taking’ a sitting governor,” the FBI affidavit read. “The group decided they needed to increase their numbers and encouraged each other to talk to their neighbors and spread their message.”
Attorney General William Barr called the plot “abhorrent.”
