State Capitol Building of Michigan in Lansing
State Capitol Building of Michigan in LansingISTOCK

The convicted leader of a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 had been sentenced to 16 years in federal prison.

Adam Fox was handed the sentenced by a Michigan federal judge on Tuesday, CNN reported.

During the trial, prosecutors described Fox leading a group who planned to kidnap the governor from her summer residence in 2020.

Four months ago Fox and co-defendant Barry Croft Jr. were found guilty of conspiracy charges at a second trial that took place in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Croft will be sentenced on Wednesday.

Both men were alleged to have headed up a plot to kidnap Whitmer, a Democrat, in order to inflame anti-government sentiments on the eve of the 2020 presidential election.

The FBI embedded itself with the kidnappers and went on to arrest 14 people, breaking up the plot.

Prosecutors said that Fox was the "driving force urging their recruits to take up arms, kidnap the governor and kill those who stood in their way,” CBS News reported.

They described Croft as having bomb-making skills and providing extremist ideology.

Assistant US Attorney Nils Kessler said in a court filing before the sentencing: "They had no real plan for what to do with the governor if they actually seized her. Paradoxically, this made them more dangerous, not less."

Fox and Croft were convicted in a second trial after an initial trial in Grand Rapids resulted in a hung jury, who also acquitted two other defendants.