DETROIT — A key informant who helped the FBI infiltrate an alleged plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer won't spend a day in prison despite pleading guilty to a 10-year gun crime, according to a plea agreement filed in federal court Friday.
The plea agreement for Wisconsin resident Stephen Robeson raises questions about why prosecutors were willing to offer such a lucrative deal to a convicted felon even though he committed a new federal crime while working as an FBI informant in one of the most closely watched domestic terrorism investigations this century. Robeson's lawyer has argued the convicted felon had prior approval from the FBI "to otherwise engage in illegal conduct."
The plea deal requires Robeson to serve two years' probation, is awaiting approval from a federal judge and will secure the second conviction of a key insider in the kidnapping conspiracy investigation. Admitted kidnap plotter Ty Garbin, 25, of Hartland Township has pleaded guilty and is expected to testify for the government at trial in March.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the western district of Wisconsin could not be reached for comment immediately Friday. And it remains unclear if Robeson will be called by defense lawyers in the kidnapping trial.
The deal was filed six months after Robeson, 58, of Oxford, about an hour's drive north of Madison, was charged in what exposed a rare public rift between federal prosecutors and a valuable informant, and in what amounted to the first, but not last, sign of trouble in the kidnapping case.
In the ensuing months, one of the lead FBI agents was arrested and accused of beating his wife after a swinger's party, dropped from the Whitmer case and fired. Defense lawyers, meanwhile, have raised questions about possible misconduct by federal agents and whether they entrapped the accused kidnap plotters.
Three sources familiar with the investigation identified Robeson as one of the government's undercover informants. Robeson attended and organized combat training in Wisconsin, participated in a June 2020 meeting in Dublin, Ohio, that served as a catalyst for the kidnapping plot, and he also attended a camp in northern Michigan where accused plotters underwent combat training, according to the sources.
Robeson's name also surfaced briefly during a federal court hearing in January. Joshua Blanchard, the attorney for accused plotter Barry Croft, mentioned Robeson while arguing government informants were the main drivers in the alleged kidnapping scheme.
Last year, several accused plotters spent the weekend of Sept. 12-13 in northern Michigan surveilling Whitmer's vacation home, according to the conspiracy case.
The criminal complaint describes the late-night surveillance run from the group's remote training site in Luther to Whitmer's vacation home.
Three vehicles made the trip, including a truck containing five people: accused ringleaders Croft and Adam Fox, an informant, an undercover FBI agent and "an individual from Wisconsin."
"That's me," Robeson later told members of the Patriot community during an online meeting held to determine if Robeson was a government informant. "I'm the individual from Wisconsin."
Two weeks later, Robeson went gun shopping.
On Sept. 26, Robeson bought an Armalite .50-caliber sniper rifle, which is powerful enough to shoot a target more than a mile away. He bought the rifle from a man he met at church, according to the plea deal.
"The man delivered the gun to Robeson and went shooting with him before the purchase was finalized," according to the court filing.
The gun deal happened in Rio, about midway between Robeson's home and Madison, according to the plea agreement.
"Several months later, the defendant sold the gun to a person he met on Facebook Messenger," the plea deal reads. "Text messages obtained from the purchaser show the sale being arranged."
Robeson knew it was illegal to buy the sniper rifle, according to the plea deal. His long rap sheet includes convictions for having sex with a child age 16 or older, sexual assault, and bail jumping.
