One of the men who schemed to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 pleaded guilty Wednesday in state court.
Shawn Fix, 40, copped to one count of providing material support for an act of terrorism. He faces up to 20 years in prison.
Fix was part of a militia group called the Wolverine Watchmen, who planned an elaborate operation to kidnap Whitmer in 2020. The plotters were hoping to “instigate a civil war leading to societal collapse,” federal prosecutors said. They were initially united by hatred of Whitmer’s COVID pandemic policies.
Though Fix did not lead the group, he hosted a meeting at his home in Belleville and helped militia leader Adam Fox pinpoint the location of Whitmer’s vacation home in Antrim County. Fix was also present at several “training sessions” and other planning meetings, according to investigators.
Informants and undercover FBI agents were in deep with the Wolverine Watchmen from almost the very beginning of the plot, to the point that defense attorneys have argued — successfully in some cases — that the men were entrapped.
Fix was the ninth person convicted in the plot. Four men, including Fox and fellow leader Barry Croft Jr., were convicted in federal court last August and each sentenced to more than 15 years in prison. Two of those men were later acquitted.
In October 2022, three men were convicted in state court and handed long prison terms. And in March, Wisconsin resident Brian Higgins pleaded guilty to watching Whitmer’s vacation home as part of the scheme.
Three more men are scheduled for trial in state court in August. Higgins and Fix both agreed to testify against them if called. Their sentencing hearings will happen after those proceedings end.