COLUMBIA, S.C. — One of the men charged in an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Witmer was arrested in Columbia, South Carolina.
The Michigan Attorney General's office said Paul Edward Bellar, 21, of Milford, Michigan was arrested in the state's capital city Wednesday. The Michigan AG's office said it's working to extradite him back to the state for charges.
He's facing the following counts:
- Providing material support for terrorist acts – a 20-year felony and/or $20,000 fine;
- Gang membership – a 20-year felony, which may be served as a consecutive sentence; and
- Carrying or possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony; felony firearm – a two-year mandatory prison sentence to be served consecutively.
Online records show Bellar was still booked Friday at the Richland County Detention Center in Columbia.
A total of 13 people were charged either by the U.S. Attorney's office in Michigan or the Michigan AG. Bellar is not facing federal charges.
According to the attorney general, the suspects are alleged to have called on the groups’ members to identify the home addresses of law enforcement officers in order to target them; made threats of violence to instigate a civil war leading to societal collapse, and engaged in the planning and training for an operation to attack the state Capitol building and kidnap government officials, including Gov. Whitmer.
The affidavit said four of the men had planned to meet Wednesday to “make a payment on explosives and exchange tactical gear.”
The FBI quoted one of the men as saying Whitmer “has no checks and balances at all. She has uncontrolled power right now. All good things must come to an end."
An affidavit said Bellar was appointed to the role of "sergeant" because he had specific expertise in medical and firearms training and designed tactical exercises for training. It says he provided plans for tactical maneuvers at trainings, coded language for covert communication, hosted meetings as his home, and provided ammunition.
Authorities said the plots were stopped with the work of undercover agents and informants. The six charged in federal court face up to life in prison if convicted. The state terrorism charges the other seven men face carry a possible 20-year sentence.
“There has been a disturbing increase in anti-government rhetoric and the re-emergence of groups that embrace extremist ideologies,” Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said. “These groups often seek to recruit new members by seizing on a moment of civil unrest and using it to advance their agenda of self-reliance and armed resistance. This is more than just political disagreement or passionate advocacy, some of these groups’ mission is simply to create chaos and inflict harm upon others.”
"These are the types of things you hear from groups like ISIS," Whitmer said in an interview with ABC's Good Morning America. "This is not a militia, it is a domestic terror organization. We need to call it out and people of good will on both sides of the aisle need to stand up and do the right thing here because this should not stand in the United States of America in 2020."