Overview
- Gavin Rivers Weisenburg, 21, and Tanner Christopher Thomas, 20, were charged in the Eastern District of Texas with conspiracy to murder, maim or kidnap in a foreign country and with production of child pornography.
- An indictment alleges the pair planned from August 2024 to July 2025 to buy a sailboat and weapons, learn Haitian Creole, and recruit people from Washington, D.C.’s homeless community to form a mercenary force for an invasion of Gonâve Island.
- Prosecutors say Thomas enlisted in the U.S. Air Force to gain relevant skills; the service confirms he is an airman who was court‑martialed, sentenced to a dishonorable discharge, and given three years’ confinement for Article 134 offenses.
- Both defendants face up to life in prison on the foreign‑conspiracy count and 15 to 30 years on the child‑pornography charge if convicted.
- The FBI, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and the Celina Police Department are investigating; defense attorneys say the men will plead not guilty, and records show Weisenburg was arrested on July 3, 2025.