Overview
- Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Texas charged Gavin Rivers Weisenburg, 21, and Tanner Christopher Thomas, 20, with conspiracy to murder, maim, or kidnap in a foreign country and with production of child pornography.
- The indictment alleges an August 2024 to July 2025 plan to recruit homeless men from the Washington, D.C. area, acquire a sailboat and weapons, and attack Haiti’s Gonâve Island to kill male residents and enslave women and children.
- Court records describe preparatory steps including studying Haitian Creole, Thomas enlisting in the U.S. Air Force for training, Weisenburg enrolling in a North Texas fire academy, and travel to Thailand for sailing lessons.
- Charging documents note illicit material found on devices and reference unnamed co-conspirators, with the FBI, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and Celina Police Department leading the investigation.
- Both defendants remain in federal custody, face up to life on the foreign-conspiracy count and 15 to 30 years on the child-pornography charge, and have not been given a trial date.