{"id":60133,"date":"2025-11-22T01:34:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T01:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/60133\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T01:34:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T01:34:11","slug":"two-north-texas-men-face-federal-indictment-over-plot-to-murder-enslave-people-on-haitian-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/60133\/","title":{"rendered":"Two North Texas men face federal indictment over plot to murder, enslave people on Haitian island"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Two North Texas men face federal charges after a grand jury indicted them for an alleged plot to invade an island off Haiti, murder the men living there, and enslave women and children.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Gavin Rivers Weisenburg, 21, of Allen, and Tanner Christopher Thomas, 20, of Argyle, were both charged with conspiracy to murder, maim, or kidnap in a foreign country and production of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Eastern District of Texas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">According to court information, the alleged scheme occurred between Aug. 2024 and July 2025. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Prosecutors say Weisenburg and Thomas planned to form an unlawful \u201cexpeditionary force\u201d to invade Gonave Island, part of the Republic of Haiti, to carry out their \u201crape fantasies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Gonave Island has an estimated population of more than 87,000 people.<\/p>\n<p>Details from the alleged plan<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">In an alleged scheme that was as ill-advised as it was horrific, officials say the men planned to purchase a sailboat, firearms, and ammunition and recruit members of unhoused communities in Washington, D.C. to serve as mercenaries. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Prosecutors say the plan involved murdering all men on the island and turning women and children into sex slaves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Investigators say both men took multiple steps to advance the plot, including making logistical outlines, learning Haitian Creole, recruiting others, and researching schools that could provide skills needed for the invasion. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">In an effort to gain \u201cmilitary skills,\u201d Thomas even enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">If convicted on the conspiracy charge, each could face up to life in federal prison. The child-pornography charge carries a penalty of 15 to 30 years in prison.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">The case is being investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and the Celina Police Department. <\/p>\n<p class=\"dist__Box-sc-1fnzlkn-0 dist__TextBase-sc-1fnzlkn-3 bYFsJw cuqaEv article-text\">Neither man has entered a plea for the charges, and the investigation is ongoing.<\/p>\n<p>Copyright 2025 by KPRC Click2Houston &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two North Texas men face federal charges after a grand jury indicted them for an alleged plot to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[294,10550,223,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-60133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-crime","tag-haiti","tag-news","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}