3 men tied to leader of Whitmer kidnap plot face sentencing

By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and ED WHITE
Associated Press

Three men who forged an early alliance with the leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor are facing potentially lengthy sentences for assisting him before the FBI disbanded the scheme in 2020. Joe Morrison, Pete Musico and Paul Bellar await scheduled sentencing Thursday. They were convicted in October of providing material support for a terrorist act, which carries a maximum term of 20 years. A judge must settle on a minimum sentence before the men are eligible for parole. Morrison, Musico and Bellar were members of a paramilitary group known as the Wolverine Watchmen that investigators had been watching for months. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was never physically harmed by the plot.