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Co-leader of Whitmer kidnapping plot gets 16 years in prison

FILE - This image provided by the Kent County, Mich., Jail. shows Adam Fox. A judge has been given two very different portrayals of Adam Fox. He faces a possible life sentence Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2022 for conspiring to abduct Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and blow up a bridge near her vacation home. Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were accused of being at the helm of a wild plot to whip up anti-government extremists just before the 2020 presidential election. (Kent County Jail via AP, File)
FILE - This image provided by the Kent County, Mich., Jail. shows Adam Fox. A judge has been given two very different portrayals of Adam Fox. He faces a possible life sentence Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2022 for conspiring to abduct Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and blow up a bridge near her vacation home. Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were accused of being at the helm of a wild plot to whip up anti-government extremists just before the 2020 presidential election. (Kent County Jail via AP, File) FILE - This image provided by the Kent County, Mich., Jail. shows Adam Fox. A judge has been given two very different portrayals of Adam Fox. He faces a possible life sentence Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2022 for conspiring to abduct Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and blow up a bridge near her vacation home. Fox and Barry Croft Jr. were accused of being at the helm of a wild plot to whip up anti-government extremists just before the 2020 presidential election. (Kent County Jail via AP, File)


GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — The co-leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was sentenced Tuesday to 16 years in prison for conspiring to abduct the Democrat and blow up a bridge to ease an escape.

Adam Fox’s sentence is the longest of anyone convicted in the plot so far, though it’s significantly shorter than the life sentence that prosecutors sought.

Fox, 39, returned to federal court four months after he and Barry Croft Jr. were convicted of conspiracy charges at a second trial in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

They were accused of organizing a wild plot to whip up anti-government extremists just before the 2020 presidential election. Their arrest, as well as the capture of 12 others, was a stunning coda to a tumultuous year of racial strife and political turmoil in the U.S.