Last week, the FBI announced it received word of a group's plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), kill police officers in their homes, and bomb the capitol building. The agency stepped in to arrest and charge the six men responsible for the plot.
"Six men have been arrested and charged federally with conspiring to kidnap the Governor of Michigan, Gretchen Whitmer. According to a complaint filed Tuesday, October 6, 2020, Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta conspired to kidnap the Governor from her vacation home in the Western District of Michigan. Under federal law, each faces any term of years up to life in prison if convicted. Fox, Garbin, Franks, Harris, and Caserta are residents of Michigan. Croft is a resident of Delaware," DOJ released in a statement. "U.S. Attorney Birge said that 'Federal and state law enforcement are committed to working together to make sure violent extremists never succeed with their plans, particularly when they target our duly elected leaders.'”
Interestingly enough, 44-year-old Barry Croft, from Delaware, is a criminal. It turns out that in April 2019, Democratic Gov. John Carney pardoned Croft "for the possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, assault and burglary," Delaware Online reported. The extent of Croft's crimes and the circumstances surrounding his pardon are not currently available.
Delaware Online, however, detailed other aspects of Croft's criminal past:
Court records indicate Croft was arrested multiple times from 1994 to 1996. During that period, he pleaded guilty to several charges including third-degree burglary, attempted theft, receiving stolen property, third-degree conspiracy and third-degree assault, according to court dockets.
In 1997, he was charged with reckless endangering and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. He pleaded guilty to only the firearm charge in that case.
That year, he did his longest sentence in Delaware prison: serving from December 1997 to November 2000. Department of Correction records indicate he had several shorter stints in Delaware prisons and in community supervision.
Croft applied to the Board of Pardons on Dec. 13, 2018. An official with the Board of Pardons said there are no minutes of the hearing. A document states Croft sought the pardon "for employment purposes."
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Croft was reportedly released because his crimes took place in the 1990s and officials believed he was "on the right track," Mat Marshall, a spokesman for Attorney General Kathy Jennings (D), said in a statement.
Below is a copy of the pardon in its entirety:
Barry Croft, one of the men charged in the plot to kidnap MI Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), received a pardon from DE Gov. John Carney (D) last year. Here's a copy of that pardon: pic.twitter.com/nSkbs0Kj29
— Beth Baumann (@eb454) October 10, 2020
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