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1:04

Okay, so. This

1:09

is Chameleon the Season Seven.

1:11

The Michigan Plot. I have a production of

1:13

Kept Side Media Thought. It

1:26

September eleventh. Twenty Twenty Then Chapel The

1:28

standing in the parking lot of the

1:30

Back Shack in Grand Rapids, Michigan waiting

1:33

for Adam Fox. Was

1:36

of Slavin, Men

1:38

left when. Flat.

1:43

Dan is driving without him to weaken

1:45

training. it's being held just outside the

1:47

town of Luthor in Northern Michigan, but

1:49

with these two know journey can begin

1:52

without fuel. Cell A

1:54

Fat Hills need. To.

1:58

check for i wish you from Adam

2:03

calls Chick-fil-A God's Chicken, and he's far from

2:05

the only person who loves it. When

2:08

they pull up to the restaurant, there's a line around

2:10

the block. We gotta go, we're getting that big-ass line

2:12

right there, bro. What the fuck, dude? Yeah.

2:14

It's gonna be tomorrow by the time we get to the hotel. It

2:17

won't, dude. Fuck my dick. Adam

2:20

and Dan talk while they wait in the long

2:22

drive-through line. It's been

2:24

almost two weeks since they drove up

2:26

to Governor Whitmer's vacation home on Birch Lake

2:28

for a weed-fueled reconnaissance mission. And

2:30

since then, Adam has started to get

2:33

a little paranoid that there's a fed in their group.

2:36

Not Dan, of course, but maybe one of

2:38

the other guys, like Barry Croft or Adam's

2:40

friend, Sean Fix. I want

2:42

him to check out. I want him to be who he says he

2:44

is. Fix, who

2:46

claims to be a Navy SEAL with access

2:48

to a Black Hawk helicopter, and is

2:50

decidedly not who he says he is,

2:53

bailed out of the Luther training at

2:55

the last minute. Adam

2:57

finds that suspicious. I

3:00

just want to know that what he's saying is

3:02

true, and I said, I'm not being stupid. I

3:04

don't have someone who's feeding me a bunch of

3:06

bullshit or... Finally,

3:08

they get up to the front of the line

3:10

and get their food. Yeah, Fox, you

3:12

guys are all safe here, and if you hold me, then

3:14

you're horrible, Ducky. Thank you. 20

3:17

minutes. Hi,

3:20

baby. I'm gonna punch you right in

3:22

the dick. The old dick queen.

3:27

But out on the highway, Dan has to

3:29

admit it's some pretty damn good chicken. Chicken

3:32

chicken? Mm-hmm. One

3:34

of the first minutes of my life, which is... It's

3:36

a super shit. Adam's

3:41

paranoia isn't limited to the people around him.

3:44

Lately, he's been backing off of the plan

3:46

to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. On

3:49

a phone call a few days before, he told Dan,

3:51

I want to do everything we talked

3:53

about, bro. I really do.

3:55

For now, we've got to do ghosts on it, right?

3:58

We can't talk about it. We can't... It's

4:00

Ixne on the plan A. Adam

4:03

has floated a few nonviolent plans Dan's

4:05

way, like buying a piece of property

4:07

somewhere and starting a community. He

4:10

said that they're not ready to carry out the plan

4:12

and that they should push it off until the spring.

4:15

But in the car on the way to Luther,

4:17

Dan doesn't think delaying things is such a good

4:19

idea. I, uh... I

4:22

imagine like spring is just... I

4:25

don't think we're having a long time. Dan

4:27

tells Adam that Whitmer might get a spot

4:29

in Joe Biden's cabinet. And that means that

4:31

if they wait until after the election, Whitmer

4:34

might be gone. They'd have

4:36

missed their opportunity. And then

4:38

she's like, oh... That... I

4:40

can't hold him up. Dan is

4:42

telling Adam if they want to kidnap

4:44

the governor, they cannot afford to wait.

4:47

And to keep things moving, he tells Adam

4:49

he's invited his army buddy to the training.

4:52

A guy named Red. Red,

4:54

he explains, knows how to get explosives.

4:57

Adam asks Dan how much money they'll

5:00

need. What I would have said around 5, a

5:02

guy like a bird was located in the middle

5:04

of a ocean. And the train was in

5:07

the ocean, and he wanted to be in the river. And

5:09

he wanted to be able to serve for as well as the people.

5:12

Dan says the cost depends on what

5:14

you want to do. Blow up a

5:17

structure, blow up a bridge, and Adam

5:19

says we need to be adaptable.

5:22

What's the depth? What do you want to screen for? Where do

5:24

you want to make a statement? Do you want to take something down? Dan

5:27

says, well, what's adaptable? Are you wanting

5:29

to make a statement? Are you wanting

5:31

to take something down? What do

5:33

you mean? I don't know. Okay. I

5:35

don't know. All right. Adam

5:37

says he kind of wants to do all of them.

5:44

They drive for about an hour, eventually turning

5:46

off the highway and bumping along the north

5:48

Michigan back roads. They

5:51

get a little turned around and Ty Garvin,

5:53

the watchman who is hosting the training, guides

5:55

them to his property. Now drive

5:57

past the house all the way back into the woods.

6:01

I see headlights. Okay, I'll be right back. Right

6:04

back. They

6:07

pull down a long rocky driveway toward

6:09

Garbins trailer. Dan's been

6:11

campaigning to get as many people to

6:13

come to this training as possible. Wolverine

6:15

Watchman, Adam's guys from the Michigan

6:17

Patriot 3 percenters, and

6:19

even folks from out of state like Barry

6:21

Croft and Steve Robeson. This white has been

6:23

a hit here already. The

6:27

turnout is good. A lot of

6:29

guys are hanging out, drinking beers and getting

6:31

rowdy. But two of the guys

6:33

Dan has been trying to get there haven't showed. Joe

6:36

Morrison and Pete Musico, the founders

6:38

of the Wolverine Watchman. Are

6:40

they even coming? Probably not. It

6:44

turns out that Joe and Pete are still

6:46

a little suspicious of Dan. Dan, I hear

6:48

you're Fed bro. Yeah. Dan's the

6:50

Fed's fucking news man. Hey,

6:53

Dan's our inside man to the Fed's. He's

6:56

going to point us out to the fucking CIA, baby. These

7:05

guys all thought they were coming up to

7:07

Luther for a routine training session. But

7:09

Dan and the FBI have other plans.

7:13

In the lead up to the weekend,

7:15

Special Agent Jason Chambers was texting Dan

7:17

about a second reconnaissance trip to the

7:19

governor's vacation home. This

7:21

time at night, with as many people as

7:23

possible from the Luther training in tow. Let's

7:26

start talking details of the night up with Adam. One

7:29

text from Chambers read, Is Adam

7:32

going to be telling people about the night recon ahead of time? Read

7:34

another. The

7:38

FBI's heard a lot of talk about a plan

7:40

to kidnap the governor. Most of

7:42

it has been from Adam. But if

7:44

everyone goes on this night recon to her house,

7:47

that's what's called an overt act.

7:50

A real step toward the plot that will

7:52

turn all this talk into

7:54

a criminal conspiracy. My

7:58

name is Ken Bensinger. And I'm

8:00

Jessica Garrison. From Campside Media

8:02

and Sony Music Entertainment, this

8:05

is Chameleon Season 7, the

8:07

Michigan plot. Episode

8:26

5, Overt Acts You

8:31

can't fully understand the moment we're living in

8:33

without knowing where we've been. On

8:36

every episode of NPR's Doo Line, we

8:38

go back in time to where it

8:40

started. Like really sorry.

8:46

To answer one important question, how did

8:48

we get here? Find

8:50

NPR's Doo Line wherever you get your

8:53

podcasts. For most of

8:55

us, crime is something we see on the

8:57

news. We never think it could

8:59

happen to us until it

9:01

does. Loved ones are

9:03

gone, and for the survivors, the scars

9:05

will never heal. I'm

9:08

Nancy Hicks, a senior crime reporter

9:10

for Global News. And on this

9:12

season of Crime Beat, I'll take

9:14

you inside some of the most

9:16

serious crime stories I've covered. Season

9:18

6 of Crime Beat is available

9:20

now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon

9:22

Music, and all podcast platforms. It's

9:29

the morning of September 12, 2020. Barry

9:32

Croft is making the last leg of a long drive from

9:34

Delaware, all the way up

9:36

to northern Michigan with his girlfriend, Chassidy Knight.

9:40

Over the past few months, Barry's been

9:42

spending more and more time at these

9:44

out-of-state get-togethers with his pal, Steve Robison.

9:47

Now, Chassidy, riding along in a

9:49

passenger seat, wants to see one

9:52

of these trainings herself. I

9:54

was just curious. That's it.

9:56

I just, like, I just want to hang out with Barry,

9:59

see what happens. what all this

10:01

was that he was, you know, these friends,

10:03

these people he was talking about wanted to

10:05

see them, see what it was like. Finally,

10:08

after many hours, they pull into

10:10

Ty Garvin's long, bumpy driveway and

10:12

park the car. Yeah,

10:17

it was like back in the

10:19

boondocks. There

10:22

was a camper that people were,

10:24

and there was people all over. There

10:27

was a lot of people there. They

10:30

were walking around, talking,

10:32

socializing. There

10:35

was a dog. It

10:37

was like a big hangout, but they

10:40

had guns. It's

10:42

raining steadily. The campsite is soaked and

10:44

people are hanging out under a makeshift

10:46

shelter. That's where Chasity meets

10:48

Dan Chappell for the first time. How

10:51

are you? Dan

10:54

had just come back from a run into

10:56

town with Adam Fox, where they picked up

10:58

Dan's army buddy, Red. Dan

11:01

introduces Red to Barry. Barry

11:13

starts to babble about how they slept in the

11:15

car in Indianapolis last night, how he'd

11:17

rather sleep on the sidewalk than risk getting

11:20

bedbugs at a motel. Chasity

11:22

is used to this and Barry's

11:24

other habits. He wore

11:26

a tricorn hat everywhere he

11:28

went. He liked it. Kinda

11:33

embarrassed me going out in public with

11:36

it. For her

11:38

part, Chasity is just taking it all in.

11:41

There are some people here she knows. She'd

11:43

met Steve Robeson before at the meeting in Dublin,

11:45

Ohio. Steve called me his

11:47

gypsy friend. He acted

11:50

like he was my best friend forever and

11:52

a day. He really knew me. That

11:55

weirded me out a little bit, but like

11:58

everybody looked up to him. like

12:00

he was the person that was telling

12:03

everybody like where they were going what

12:06

they were doing. We gotta

12:08

place the top. It's all dried out

12:10

with chairs. It's wonderful. Yeah. Fuck yeah.

12:13

By this time, Barry and Steve have become

12:15

close friends. They talk daily.

12:18

Barry would constantly be speaking with

12:20

him. He used

12:22

to refer Steve as his left-hand

12:24

buddy. Yeah, he

12:27

thought a lot about Steve. But

12:31

Barry had also made another friend at

12:33

these out-of-state get-togethers. Someone

12:35

Chasity did not like at all.

12:38

Jenny Plunk was there. Can't

12:40

stand that woman one bit. My

12:42

buddy, Rindy. I have a wet t-shirt, so I can't sit

12:44

up. How are you? I

12:47

never liked her. I just never

12:49

liked her. My stomach just always

12:51

disagreed with her. Jenny

12:54

Plunk always seems to be around Robeson

12:56

at these events. The two seem

12:58

bound at the hip. Plunk has

13:00

dirty blonde hair and hails from Tennessee, where

13:02

she got her twangy southern drawl. Robie's

13:05

playing all night. A lot about bringing myself off. I

13:07

think that's all I have. Yeah. Plunk

13:09

is already on Chasity's shit list because

13:11

at these out-of-state events, Plunk has been

13:14

trying to get closer and closer to

13:16

Barry. I just knew

13:18

she was trying to be more than just a

13:20

friend. In fact, at

13:22

the training in Wisconsin, they had

13:24

gotten alarmingly close. I don't

13:26

know if anything happened, but her and Barry

13:28

shared a bed, and it's just, that's

13:31

not cool. Sorry, it's just not cool.

13:34

You don't get in bed with another man. You're

13:37

not going to disrespect me like this. And

13:40

at this training in Luther, Chasity's guard is

13:42

up. Something about

13:45

these people just seems off. Barry

13:47

was at that time backing out. He

13:50

was trying just to be a

13:52

part of his family more and work

13:55

on our relationship. My.

14:01

Own comic comic me. The training for

14:03

the day is pretty normal. Everyone split

14:05

into groups to work on combat skills.

14:07

As usual, Dan leads the training, running

14:09

people through a suit, house tie carbon

14:11

built on the property for your mood.

14:13

I'm in Israel so fast yadda thanks

14:15

to the jump on his ass yeah

14:17

he doesn't come out a of. At.

14:20

One point Dan for that. Him

14:22

aside, He. Tells him that

14:24

his army pow read wants to show

14:26

me videos some of the merchandise he

14:29

can provide. You

14:33

a smoker? Dan

14:35

ask Adam who he wants to bring

14:37

into the conversation and suggests Barry. But.

14:40

Adam is paranoid. He only

14:42

wants people he sure he can trust. Ironically,

14:45

he picks Dan Steve Robeson who

14:47

is also an F B I

14:49

Informant. And Mark his friend from

14:52

the Upper Peninsula who is actually an

14:54

undercover F B I agent. The

14:58

group goes off to a secluded area to see

15:00

what read has to offer. Read

15:02

pulls out his phone to show them a video.

15:05

So my guy from

15:08

minnesota of he seems

15:10

pretty much get whatever

15:12

pressure that with whatever

15:15

one would want Bomb!

15:20

Inside inside. Be back! In

15:23

the video, a bomb blows up an

15:25

S U V, turning it into a

15:27

heaping, massive, smoldering metal. Off camera, a

15:29

guy. the video comments on the destruction.

15:36

White boy gets me.

15:39

Adam is intrigued. What are

15:42

her pressure You admit when

15:44

the harming your favourite their

15:47

favourite there as pretty cheap.

15:50

To do a common like

15:52

variety. Karma

15:56

Thing a song. why would you are. Missing.

16:00

They will it be and when. Damn

16:02

different options as your first. Suggests

16:05

weeks ago While we use our

16:07

objective of before yeah we are

16:09

presented just I'd sizes the whatever

16:12

you're looking for I phone us.

16:16

Around then bury whom no one could

16:18

find in time for this meeting. just

16:20

sort of wanders over. Lascivious

16:24

Cancel Robeson knows Barry likes

16:26

to dabble with explosives, so

16:28

he has read show him

16:30

the video too. Esoteric Valley

16:32

right? As bad as I

16:34

think, I

16:37

think Stephen since most definitely said

16:39

barry seat down. When.

16:41

It. Is. Have a bunch of people.

16:44

That. Are so called Your friends ensure

16:47

like Barry always one the look

16:49

to sit and you're gonna say

16:51

things just because you're He goes.

16:53

Been built. Up. While or people and

16:55

visa thing of it is like using

16:57

some like as the fireball that it

17:00

produces like let's say he isn't some

17:02

of these private rest. After

17:04

showing bury the video, the other,

17:06

stay quiet while Barry launches into

17:08

a diatribe, a violent fantasy straight

17:10

out of Mad Max. I'm dumb

17:12

as shit though. Up or four

17:14

guys or fuckin crotch Rockies and

17:17

flocking Sandal me with walk in

17:19

those bug spray and I'm who's

17:21

are fucking house down Napalm silence

17:23

in the night. Burn you are.

17:25

You're in New. On Dobro.

17:28

Like there's Smith's we have every day

17:30

a whole entire time. I know on.

17:33

When you're all and hideout

17:35

does and how. He.

17:37

Might have. Said what

17:39

he says, but when it comes down

17:41

to wit, Very. Would not

17:43

have hurt us all. Barry.

17:49

said a lot in front of

17:51

read that day a lot of

17:53

his violent and let the falcons

17:55

the camera zooms person or stupid

17:57

a as bodies they're awful awful

18:00

Barry is a big talker, but

18:02

now he's drawing away at what amounts to an

18:04

illegal bomb buy. He's in

18:07

big trouble. Because Red

18:09

is not Dan's army buddy. In

18:11

fact, before that day, they'd never even met.

18:14

Like many of the people who'd come to Luther that

18:17

weekend, Red was working

18:19

undercover for the FBI. What

18:30

are the objects that define espionage?

18:32

Right now in my hand is

18:34

a pen with a hidden microphone.

18:37

So you've got a compass that

18:39

is concealed inside one of the

18:41

buttons on your jacket. Maybe the

18:43

Germans won't find it.

18:46

We're opening the archive and

18:48

diving deep into their iconic

18:50

designs. Enigma is one of

18:53

the most famous code machines of

18:55

all time. I'm Alice

18:57

Lockston, and this is A

18:59

History of the World in

19:01

Spy Objects, a new

19:04

series from Spyscape Studios. Listen

19:07

wherever you get your podcasts. For

19:10

most of us, crime is something we

19:13

see on the news. We never think

19:15

it could happen to us until

19:17

it does. Loved ones are

19:19

gone, and for the survivors, the

19:21

scars will never heal. I'm

19:24

Nancy Hicks, a senior crime reporter for

19:26

Global News. And on this

19:28

season of Crime Beat, I'll take you

19:30

inside some of the most serious crime

19:32

stories I've covered. Season 6 of Crime

19:34

Beat is available now on Spotify, Apple

19:37

Podcasts, Amazon Music, and all

19:39

podcasts out there. You

19:45

guys down with the deal? Listen. There you are. It's

19:48

the afternoon of September 12, 2020,

19:51

and Dan Chappell is having a private meeting with

19:54

Adam Fox and Steve Robison. Dan's

19:56

trying to coordinate a night recon of Governor

19:58

Gretchen Whitmer's vacation. that Adam

20:00

was supposed to plan. And while

20:02

Dan and Robeson try to work out the details, Adam

20:05

is eating fistfuls of M&Ms. No,

20:08

no, M&Ms. No, no,

20:10

no, no, no. No. Okay, 10

20:13

or 8 or what? Dan asks Adam who he wants to

20:15

go on the recon, and Adam,

20:17

his mouth full of chocolate, drops the

20:19

list. Steve,

20:22

you, me, red.

20:24

Berry. Berry. Great.

20:28

So far, Adam wants two informants,

20:30

an undercover FBI agent, and Berry

20:32

Croft to come along. But

20:34

Dan guides Adam to try to rope in more

20:36

people. You can put some of my feelings off

20:38

the other guy. What do

20:41

you want to... Hey, how does everybody feel

20:43

about kidnapping? Not

20:45

a case, though. They make

20:47

plans to leave for the governor's vacation home

20:50

at around 8 that night. Both

20:53

Dan and Robeson want Berry Croft to go

20:55

along, but there's a big problem. Chasity,

20:58

Berry's girlfriend, doesn't want Berry to

21:00

go. Robeson and his

21:02

right-hand woman, Jenny Plunk, pulled Dan aside to

21:04

talk about the situation. With

21:07

Berry's girl, she's threatened to

21:09

throw Berry under the bus

21:11

before. She decides a

21:13

genuine issue with her because she's threatened to

21:15

throw him under the bus before. Apparently,

21:17

after Jenny and Berry shared a bed in

21:19

Wisconsin, Chasity laid down

21:21

the law and demanded transparency. And

21:24

he freely talks to her, though. Eight times

21:27

her everything. When he talks to us,

21:29

he has a door-to-door phone. And

21:31

I didn't know that until yesterday. They

21:34

say that Berry tells Chasity everything, even

21:37

puts them on speakerphone when they call so she

21:39

can hear, too. Jenny worries

21:41

that Chasity is causing Berry to be

21:43

more cautious. But the point is, Berry's

21:45

already so paranoid. And

21:48

we need him to be able to talk with

21:50

y'all and give y'all the objective, because we're going

21:53

to have an objectives meeting here after a while. Right.

21:56

You might be asking, why is Jenny

21:58

Plunk so concerned about Berry becoming paranoid.

22:01

You guessed it, Jenny Plunk is

22:04

also an FBI informant. So

22:06

this is a conversation between three

22:08

informants discussing how to get a

22:10

primary target of a domestic terror

22:12

investigation to participate in a criminal

22:14

conspiracy. Dan asked

22:16

him quietly, can he come or not? Can

22:19

he come at her not?

22:21

Does he know about it yet? No.

22:23

What did you just say? Can he come

22:26

and hurt on tonight? No, because she won't

22:28

let him. Well, he

22:30

can come with us tonight. But when he's

22:32

asking this, will she let him go? She

22:34

ain't got no choice. She ain't got no

22:36

choice. Robeson

22:38

says he ain't got no choice. She

22:41

ain't got no choice. Like

22:46

Dan with Adam, Robeson has gotten close

22:48

to Barry. He's become a friend and

22:50

a confidant. And he knows that

22:53

Barry will do exactly what he tells him

22:55

to do. Yeah, if I

22:57

say he's going to go with us and she can't, he's

22:59

going to go with us and she can't. As

23:05

night closes in and the training wraps up for

23:07

the day, Dan meets up with Red in his

23:10

car to talk over the night recon. Can

23:14

we leave? Are these folks aware of

23:16

what we're doing? Red

23:19

says, when we leave, are these folks aware

23:21

of what we're going to be doing? Yeah.

23:24

Adam's not putting it off

23:27

them. It's an

23:29

important question because there's no criminal conspiracy

23:31

if none of the people involved know

23:33

what's going on. Adam

23:35

is supposed to be telling the people he wants to

23:37

come on the recon, but it appears he hasn't been

23:39

very busy on that front. It

23:42

seems like not a lot of them know about it yet. Outside,

23:45

most of the guys have started drinking

23:47

and are preparing the grill to gorge

23:49

themselves on burgers. But Adam is

23:52

nowhere to be found. He's

23:54

drifted away from camp following the scent trail

23:56

of his next meal into town. near

24:00

me now. He's

24:03

being driven, of course, by Mark, another

24:06

FBI agent wearing a wire. I am

24:08

not in Poland. It's us, it's me,

24:10

I'm in Poland. Well? Mark

24:12

gets to listen to Adam try to find

24:14

a restaurant with his phone's digital assistant over

24:17

and over again. Hey Siri, is there anywhere

24:19

to eat near us? Hey

24:22

Siri, where can we get something to eat?

24:24

Westwater, Dayton, and Cadillac. Alright,

24:26

fuck off. Do you pack them when you want? No Siri,

24:28

fuck off. We got a...

24:37

Back at camp, the clock is winding down

24:39

to the night recon, and Dan is

24:41

trying to get a hold of Adam. You

24:44

got Adam's number? Yeah. No, he went through

24:46

with food with Mark, but he's out. I don't know where

24:48

we're going to meet him at. The

24:50

FBI has put a lot of planning and

24:52

resources into this night recon. There

24:54

are agents at the Reddy and cars nearby

24:57

and secret cameras placed in key positions. They've

25:00

notified the governor's security detail to make sure

25:02

she won't be in the area. But

25:04

Dan can't be the one to leave this

25:06

recon. It has to be Adam. And

25:09

Adam is AWOL. After

25:12

a while, Dan decides enough is enough.

25:15

He's going to meet up with Steve Robeson and

25:17

Barry Croft at their hotel in Big Rapids, about

25:19

half an hour away, and try to get in

25:21

touch with Adam en route. Hey,

25:23

we're going. We're going?

25:26

Yeah. Yo.

25:31

Hey, what's up? When Dan finally gets

25:33

him on the phone, Adam is happily drinking

25:35

and eating with Mark at some local dive

25:37

bar. Dan wants him to drive back

25:39

to camp to pick up more people for the recon.

25:42

You want to swing in to pick them up? Turn the

25:44

timer after. All right. I'll give it to you

25:46

as soon as we park here. Adam

25:48

doesn't even know the address of the property they spent

25:51

the whole day at. And a couple

25:53

minutes later, he calls back. Yo,

25:57

what's up? So, you sent me the address? I'm

26:00

sending it to you right now, motherfucker. I'm driving too.

26:02

There, kilos. Yeah, there it goes. All right, buddy. I

26:04

got her. I got her. Thank you, DVS motherfucker. Hey,

26:06

eat a dick while you're at it. All

26:10

right, dick. Fuck off. You

26:13

almost have to empathize a little

26:15

with Dan here. After months of

26:18

patiently working with Adam, helping him

26:20

stay focused, he just can't seem

26:22

to herd this particular cat. By

26:26

the time he gets to Barry's hotel in

26:28

Big Rapids, it's clear that Dan has had

26:31

just about enough of Adam. There's

26:35

a lot of jangling, but he says, I'm

26:38

gonna hold Adam's head underwater until

26:40

the bubbles stop. At

26:43

around that time, Barry Croft and his

26:45

girlfriend Chasity were hanging out at their

26:47

hotel in Big Rapids. And Barry's like,

26:49

oh, I gotta go. Robeson

26:52

called us to do a nighttime

26:54

surveillance. We're gonna do that. He

26:57

just thought it was gonna be at

26:59

Ty's place, but he wasn't actually sure.

27:01

He was said it was an unknown

27:04

place. We kind of

27:06

argued because it's like, well,

27:08

we're here all day shooting guns. I

27:10

don't understand why you have to do

27:12

that. I was like, I just

27:14

want a little time with y'all. And

27:17

then Robeson called Barry

27:19

and asked if we could go

27:22

get food. So me and

27:24

Barry ended up going to a Wendy's

27:28

and getting a bunch of food for everybody. And

27:30

then from Wendy's, we went back to

27:32

the hotel. There was a bunch

27:35

of people there. I had a double. I

27:38

got a bacon aider and a bottle of bacon.

27:41

Barry hands out the various bacon aiders

27:43

and double stacks. Once I

27:45

ate, Barry took me

27:47

inside, got me settled into the

27:49

hotel room. He

27:52

asked Jenny to check up

27:54

on me and make sure I'm okay. Cause

27:57

he didn't like leaving me alone. And

28:00

then bury goes back down to the parking

28:02

lot and jumps into dance track. After

28:11

hours of wrangling by Dan everyone going

28:14

on the recon rallies in the parking

28:16

lot of a Walmart forty minutes north

28:18

of. Dayton

28:21

Robeson decide they want Adam and

28:23

burying their truck, keeping the two

28:25

big targets of this investigation close

28:27

at hand. Adam

28:30

gets into dance pick up and of

28:32

course start stuffing his face with candy

28:34

again. As

28:41

they're about to leave, read who

28:43

is concerned earlier but these guys

28:45

don't know what they're getting into.

28:47

Ah, say clarifying question I posed

28:49

for the fucker. Adam

28:55

says the Governor's House but in

28:57

the background you can hear Barry

28:59

said destination and no. One

29:06

day prosecutors who carberry one of

29:08

the masterminds of this plot. But.

29:11

On this critical night, he has

29:13

no idea where they're going. He

29:15

mainly seems to be really, really

29:17

high. And that underscores a

29:19

very important point about all of

29:21

this. The government would contend

29:24

that the night recon was the culmination

29:26

of a meticulous planned months in the

29:28

making. But. Listening to the

29:30

tapes, it's obvious it's being organized on

29:32

the fly, mostly by informants and undercover

29:35

agents. There. is a real

29:37

question as to which are these people

29:39

other than adam fox knows that the

29:41

goal is to kidnap the governor maybe

29:43

that's why as they prepare to travel

29:45

the birch lake read really wants to

29:47

get on tape that these people know

29:50

where they're going through his own the

29:52

first in this isn't just All

30:02

right. The

30:06

drive from the Walmart to Birch Lake takes about an

30:08

hour. And on the way,

30:10

Adam re-explains his crazy plan. He

30:12

wants to kidnap the governor by boat and then take

30:14

her out to Lake Michigan and leave her there. Barry

30:18

seems no less confused. He

30:20

mumbles, I'm definitely going to take a

30:22

nap, but I'm down as fuck. Count

30:24

me in. See,

30:26

Barry's just heard this plan

30:29

for the first time and

30:32

he thinks they're kidnapping the

30:39

governor tonight. He's

30:41

down to ride right now. Barry,

30:45

you're a solid man. There's

30:50

one more element to Fox's bonkers plan.

30:53

A bridge in Elk Rapids that he wants

30:55

to take out to slow down any law

30:58

enforcement response to the kidnapping. Now,

31:00

as they drive north, Red, the undercover agent,

31:02

says they should go under the bridge to

31:04

get a closer look. Make

31:06

sure you got your phone or

31:09

something to take a photo. When

31:14

they arrive, Adam and Red jump out of the

31:16

car and proceed on foot along a walkway that

31:18

goes under the small bridge. When

31:21

they're underneath, Adam jumps off the walkway and

31:23

clambers up the cement embankment to the base

31:25

of the bridge where he takes a photo

31:27

with his phone. While

31:30

he's doing that, Red discreetly takes a

31:32

photo of Adam. The

31:42

whole thing takes about a minute and

31:44

then they walk back to the road where Dan is waiting

31:46

to pick them up. Now

31:53

it's on to Birch Lake and the main

31:55

task at hand. So we're going to dock.

31:58

So we're going to jump. We're

32:00

going to the dock. Adam

32:04

and Dan have already seen the governor's vacation home.

32:07

You might be wondering why they're doing it all over

32:09

again in the dark. The logic

32:12

goes, the kidnapping will probably happen at night,

32:14

and her house will be harder to spot

32:16

at night from the water. So

32:18

Adam's car heads over to the boat launch,

32:21

while another car cruises by the governor's house

32:23

and flashes its brights for Adam to see.

32:26

That way, I guess, Adam will be able to

32:28

find the governor's house when they come back for

32:30

the real thing. An average

32:32

person might just use a GPS to find the

32:35

house at night. Adam Fox

32:37

is not your average person. Adam

32:42

and Dan hop out of the boat launch and look

32:44

across the lake, trying to spot some

32:46

sign of the other vehicle. There's

32:53

just one teensy little problem. Adam

32:55

gave the other car the wrong address. On

32:59

the other side of the lake, those guys are

33:01

lost. Did they mean 6-8-1-5? Because

33:04

I didn't see a 6-8-1-5. Brian

33:07

Higgins, Robeson's friend, is driving.

33:09

Wolverine Watchman Ty Garberton and Caleb Franks

33:12

are riding along, squinting into the

33:14

rainy dark at the house numbers going by. So

33:17

what I would say is we should go back and hit 6-8-1-5.

33:21

So now here is 7-3-6-4. There's

33:25

another problem. The radios they brought to

33:27

communicate with each other aren't working. On

33:30

the other side of the lake, Dan ends

33:32

up just calling Garban's phone to try to

33:34

figure out where they are. Is

33:36

he almost in place? Shut up, I'm

33:38

out of this. 7-8-1-5-5-8? Yeah.

33:44

No, he's not starting. 7-8-1-5-5-9-6. Dan's

33:48

help. Higgins eventually finds

33:50

the governor's place. 6-8-1-5-5-R. 6-8-1-5-5-9-6.

33:55

Is that a blue house? I

33:58

mean, no. They

34:02

flash their brights over and over, but

34:05

no one at the launch can see them. While

34:12

Dan and Robeson tried to troubleshoot, Adam

34:14

seems to have lost the plot. They

34:27

tell him they're not going to be able to see the

34:29

vehicle. Eventually

34:34

they decide to leave and cut their

34:36

losses. If

34:45

the night recon seemed disastrous to you, it's

34:48

because it was. They were barely

34:50

able to find the governor's place. But

34:52

for the FBI, it was a smashing success.

34:56

Because it's not so much about what happened on

34:58

that night as it is about the story prosecutors

35:00

would be able to tell about it. They

35:02

finally have their targets together in one

35:05

place, advancing a plot to kidnap the

35:07

governor with real action. Now

35:10

they just need to seal the deal.

35:19

It's the following morning, September 13, 2020, the last

35:21

day of the training weekend in

35:24

Luther, Michigan. Red, the

35:26

undercover FBI agent, pulls Adam

35:28

Fox aside. He wants to

35:31

give Adam a price on the bomb he needs to

35:33

blow up the bridge in Elk Rapids. It's

35:35

hard to hear, but Red says based on

35:37

what he saw, four grand should

35:40

do the trick. Adam

35:48

is, as he's fond of saying, broke

35:50

as a joke. There's no way

35:52

he can come up with $4,000. But

35:55

Red is apparently that rare breed of

35:57

bomb salesman willing to extend a line

36:00

of credit. Later in the

36:02

day, Adam pulls some people aside

36:04

for a secret meeting. It's very

36:19

hard to hear, but he says, so a

36:22

lot of you who went with us last night

36:24

kind of know what our intentions are. It comes with

36:26

a price tag. There's a lot of other shit

36:28

we got to do to be able to do

36:30

what we want to do. It's

36:32

vague, and at first it's hard to know if

36:35

anyone there even knows what Adam is talking about.

36:38

Red chimes in, trying to get agreement from

36:40

the group to pitch in to buy the

36:42

explosives. From my perspective, I

36:44

just need to know if you

36:46

want me to go, like I said, IOUs work. I

36:50

can go put stuff together. The

36:53

question is, you guys want to shoot or what?

36:55

Fuck yeah. At

36:58

least one person agrees, but other people start

37:00

to quibble about the plan. Barry

37:02

Croft seems to consider, for the first

37:04

time, what it would mean to actually

37:06

go through with this, that he would

37:09

likely have to leave his young daughters

37:11

behind. I'm tired of my

37:13

group. I can't be watching. I mean,

37:15

I got kids. I don't know. My

37:17

daughter, she called me on. I can't

37:19

think of her. She's ready. There's

37:24

no room for a fence sitter. I'm going to tell you

37:26

right now. Robeson cuts

37:28

Barry off to say there's no room for

37:30

somebody who's on the fence about this. You've

37:32

got to be dedicated to be in charge of

37:35

anything. I mean, you can't have people watching you

37:37

not show up to something. That's something you need

37:39

to think about, then. If we're going to carry

37:41

out an operation of this magnitude, you are going

37:43

to have to walk away from life. That's something.

37:46

I've been blessed with a good knife. My last

37:48

20 years, bro. I'm ready to roll. rare

38:00

moment of clarity for Barry, where he

38:02

asks the group to really think about

38:04

the consequences of what they're talking about.

38:07

Guys, it was all about walking away forever, man.

38:09

This is serious, man. That's something. I'm

38:11

going to look at this a little bit different. I'm going

38:13

to say it for everybody here, Miter. That

38:15

is an option. It very well could

38:18

be we ended up walking away and having to

38:20

do our shit. But again,

38:23

it doesn't mean that, either. Take

38:30

a second to remember everything it took to

38:32

get to this moment. It

38:34

took months of Robeson prodding this group to

38:36

come up with a viable plan. Dan

38:39

put a lot of effort in getting Adam in with

38:41

the watchman and then spent months working with Adam on

38:43

what he might want to do. It took

38:46

three FBI informants and two undercover agents to

38:48

herd these cats into the night recon, where

38:50

some of them didn't even know what they

38:52

were doing or why they were there. And

38:55

at this meeting, those agents and informants

38:57

are trying to get the group to agree to

38:59

this plot. And still, there's

39:02

nothing even close to unanimous agreement on

39:04

these tapes. We're all in

39:06

agreement. That's what I am. Like I said, when

39:08

we talk, that's what I am. I'm

39:11

just trying to give you a realistic picture. The

39:16

people who sound the most zealous are

39:18

Adam Fox, the informants, and the FBI

39:20

agent. I'm going to

39:22

get this shit. And so at

39:24

that time, I'm not making

39:26

a dime off this guy. I promise you, I'm

39:28

not making a dime for simply paying the piper

39:30

to bring it in. And

39:33

you have to wonder if the

39:35

FBI had never infiltrated these groups, would

39:37

any of them even be here? Maybe

39:40

Adam Fox would still be smoking weed in the

39:43

basement of the back shack. Maybe

39:45

Barry Croft would still be at home saying

39:47

horrific shit on Facebook and spending time with

39:49

his daughters. Would any of

39:52

the meetings or trainings have ever happened? Would

39:54

any of these people even have met? Would

39:58

there be any kind of plot at all? Now,

40:02

there's no way to know. Okay,

40:05

so Rob's the removal force. There's no room

40:07

for property in the state at all. Don't

40:23

want to wait for that next episode? You don't

40:25

have to. Unlock all episodes

40:27

of Chameleon the Michigan Plot ad-free right

40:29

now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast

40:31

channel. Just click subscribe

40:34

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40:36

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40:38

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40:42

As a subscriber, you'll get binge access to

40:44

new stories on the first of every month.

40:47

Check out the Binge channel page

40:49

on Apple Podcasts or getthebinge.com to

40:51

learn more. It's

41:00

October 7, 2020, almost a month after Luther. Dan

41:05

is at the Vax Shack to pick up Adam Fox. Since

41:14

the night recon, Adam seems to be more

41:16

amped up than ever. He's excited to see

41:18

Dan, his partner in crime, to show off

41:20

the purchases he's been making for their mission

41:22

together. In the

41:24

Vax Shack, Fox shows off a new gadget, a

41:27

taser, and a pair of handcuffs. If

41:39

I went to an nest, not really, but if you haven't

41:41

playedizio yet, please don't listen to

41:48

me. Time for me to listen to my

41:51

own favorite puppy actually. I love it. Bye

41:54

guys. Today,

42:02

Dan is taking Adam for a little ride.

42:05

He's told a bunch of the guys that Red has

42:07

some excess gear he doesn't need and wants to give

42:10

them. Plate carriers for

42:12

bulletproof armor, some tactical belts, some

42:14

bags. Dan

42:20

has volunteered to pick up folks and drive

42:23

them to Ipsilanti to get the gear, and

42:25

then take them to Buffalo Wild Wings for

42:27

chicken and beer. He and

42:29

Adam scoop up Thai Garbon, Daniel Harris,

42:31

and Caleb Franks. And

42:42

then they're on the road with Adam zapping

42:44

away at his taser. And

42:50

Harris cocking and uncocking a handgun and

42:52

putting it to Dan's head. They

42:58

pull off at Ipsilanti and into a big

43:00

empty parking lot. As Dan

43:03

drives all the way up to a

43:05

warehouse at the back of the lot,

43:07

Thai Garbon suddenly gets spooked. Garbon

43:14

says, what are you pulling all the way

43:17

up here for? Then

43:19

he says, where's he at? As

43:27

Dan goes around to the back of his

43:30

truck, where he says he has some rifle

43:32

parts he wants to show everyone, Garbon looks

43:34

around. Maybe it

43:36

dawns on him. There's no

43:38

such thing as free gear. He

43:43

says, we're going to go to jail. And

43:46

looking around some more, where are the

43:48

cameras? These

44:00

guys talked a lot about a day when the

44:02

feds would come for them. It

44:04

must have been surreal to have it

44:06

actually happening. Based

44:13

down on the ground, the FBI agents

44:15

cuffed them one at a time. Some

44:32

of the guys just seem confused.

44:35

No one's told them yet what they're being charged

44:37

with. They don't

44:39

know that they're about to become

44:41

the most notorious domestic terrorists in

44:44

America. On

44:50

the next episode of Chameleon season

44:52

seven, the Michigan plot, a

44:54

peek behind the FBI's curtain at the agent

44:56

who ran the show, a show

44:59

the FBI has been running for

45:01

decades. In most cases, the defendant

45:03

didn't have the capacity to commit

45:06

any significant violence on his own

45:08

and didn't have any connections to

45:10

real terrorists. These were cases that

45:12

the FBI made entirely possible. And

45:15

Adam Fox finally wakes up to reality from

45:18

behind bars. Adam really thought

45:20

he had somebody. He really

45:22

thought Dad was his brother. One

45:33

is a production of Campside Media in

45:35

partnership with Sony Music Entertainment. The

45:37

Michigan plot is hosted by me, Ken

45:40

Bensinger. And me, Jessica

45:42

Garrison. The show is produced

45:44

by Ryan Swikert. Callie Hitchcock

45:46

and Henry Lavoie are associate producers.

45:50

Story editing by Michael Canyon Meyer. Josh

45:53

Dean is our executive producer. Voice

45:56

acting by Levi Petrie. Fact

45:58

checking by Annika Robbins. Additional

46:01

research by Julie Denesche. Sound

46:04

design and mix by E. Winlai Tramuen. Music

46:07

by Blue Dot Sessions, Epidemic

46:09

Sound, and APM. A

46:11

special thanks to our operations team,

46:14

Doug Slaywin, Ashley Warren, and Destiny

46:16

Dingle. Campside Media's

46:18

executive producers are Josh Dean,

46:20

Vanessa Grigoriadis, Adam Hoff, and

46:22

Matt Schayer. If

46:25

you're enjoying this show, spread the word, and

46:27

leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. It

46:29

helps other people find the show. I'm

46:32

Ken Bensinger, and thanks for listening. Sound

46:35

design and mix by E. Winlai

46:37

Tramuen. I'm

46:40

sorry, man. They're normally really fucking bad.

46:42

Can we just get our chicken, please?

46:45

I see. I ain't never

46:47

going to live in this town. Alright,

46:50

no chick-fil-a.