Michigan Attorney General Charges Wisconsin Dells Man for Participating in Plot to Kidnap Michigan Governor
Friday, October 16th, 2020 -- 12:03 PM
(WMTV) -Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel charged a Wisconsin Dells man Thursday for allegedly participating in the plan to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.Brian Higgins, 51, was charged with material support in an act of terrorism, which is a 20-year felony. He was arrested Thursday in Wisconsin and will be extradited to Michigan to be arraigned in Antrim County, Michigan. The court dates have not been scheduled yet. The attorney general alleges that Higgins assisted in the plan to kidnap Gov. Whitmer from her vacation home. The office also charged seven other men after executing multiple search and arrest warrants Oct. 7 in a joint operation with the US Attorneys of the Eastern and Western districts of Michigan, the FBI and Michigan State Police. Nessel filed a total of 20 charges against the eight people who were known to be members of the militia group Wolverine Watchman, or are associates of the group. There were an additional six people federally charged, as well.
The affidavit alleges that the FBI became aware in early 2020 of groups of people in several states that were discussing a violent overthrow of the government and law enforcement entities. These groups then reportedly united and agreed to take violent actions on government organizations that they believed were violating the U.S. Constitution. The affidavit continued, reporting that Higgins aided the group in physical surveillance of the governor’s vacation home. On one night of surveillance, Higgins allegedly used night-vision goggles for surveillance and mounted a digital dash camera on his vehicle to record surveillance of Gov. Whitmer’s home. Higgins is currently being held in the Columbia County Jail on an out of county warrant.
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