Two men who forged an early alliance with the leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor were sentenced Thursday to lengthy prison terms for assisting him before the FBI broke up the scheme in 2020.
Pete Musico was given a minimum term of 12 years and his son-in-law Joe Morrison got 10 years. A third person, Paul Bellar, was sentenced to seven years at the same hearing in Jackson County.
They were convicted in October of providing material support for a terrorist act, which carries a maximum term of 20 years, and two other crimes.
Musico, 45, Morrison, 28, and Bellar, 24, were members of a paramilitary group known as the Wolverine Watchmen. Governor Gretchen Whitmer was never physically harmed by the plot.
The three will be eligible for parole after serving their minimum sentences. The maximum they can held in prison would be 42 years under state law.
Pete Musico, 45, and Joe Morrison, 28, were sentenced to more than 10 years in prison after plotting to kidnap Michigan’s governor
Paul Bellar, 24, was also involved and received seven years in prison. The three men who forged an early alliance with the leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor will return to court on Thursday
Judge Thomas Wilson presided over the first batch of convictions in state court, following the high-profile conspiracy convictions of four others in federal court.
Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were described as captains of an incredible plan to snatch Governor Whitmer from her vacation home, seeking to inspire a U.S. civil war known as the ‘boogaloo.’
Whitmer, a Democrat recently elected to a second term, was never physically harmed.
Undercover FBI agents and informants were inside Fox’s group for months, and the scheme was broken up with 14 arrests in October 2020.
Morrison, Musico and Bellar held gun training with Fox in rural Jackson County and shared their disgust for Whitmer, police and public officials, especially after COVID-19 restrictions disrupted the economy and triggered armed Capitol protests and anti-government belligerence.
But defense attorneys argued that the trio had cut ties with Fox before the Whitmer plot came into focus by late summer of 2020; Bellar had moved to South Carolina in July.
The three men also didn’t travel with Fox to look for the governor’s second home or participate in a key training session inside a ‘shoot house’ in Luther, Michigan.
‘Mr. Bellar is clueless about any plot to kidnap the governor,’ attorney Andrew Kirkpatrick said again in a court filing last week.
Michigan’s Governor Gretchen Whitmer (pictured) was never physically harmed
Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wilson presided over the first batch of convictions in state court
A jury, however, quickly returned guilty verdicts in October after hearing nine days of testimony, mostly evidence offered by a pivotal FBI informant, Dan Chappel, and federal agents.
The jury agreed with prosecutors that the Wolverine Watchmen constituted a criminal gang.
Chappel, an Army veteran, said he joined the Watchmen because he wanted to improve his guns skills.
But when talk turned to harming police, he went to the FBI and agreed to gather evidence for an investigation that eventually revealed a target on Whitmer.
Chappel told jurors it was ‘absolutely’ risky. ‘If I was ever compromised,’ he said, ‘it would not be a good day.’
Separately, in federal court in Grand Rapids, Fox and Croft face possible life sentences in two weeks.
Two men who pleaded guilty received substantial breaks: Ty Garbin is free after a two and a half prison term while Kaleb Franks was given a four-year sentence.
Brandon Caserta and Daniel Harris were acquitted by a jury.
Morrison, Musico and Bellar held gun training with Fox in rural Jackson County and shared their disgust for Whitmer. Bellar is seen being taken into custody on October 26
The three were charged on October 5 in connection to the kidnapping. Pictured: prosecutors and the defense waiting for the judge
When the plot was foiled, Whitmer blamed then-President Donald Trump, saying he had given ‘comfort to those who spread fear and hatred and division.’
In August, after 19 months out of office, Trump said the kidnapping plan was a ‘fake deal.’
Whitmer also extended the criticism to Tudor Dixon, her election opponent, and said she was ‘part of the problem.
‘She has made light of a plot to kidnap and assassinate me. She´s made light of other threats to me and my family,’ Whitmer said Wednesday.
Dixon’s previously told supporters in September that Whitmer was ‘good at taking business hostage and holding it for ransom.’
