Individuals implicated in the plot allegedly intended to sexually enslave women and children on Gonave Island.
US prosecutors have announced the indictment of two American men accused of conspiring to launch an armed operation to seize a Caribbean island, eliminate its male inhabitants, and enslave the women and children.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas stated that Gavin Rivers Weisenburg, 21, and Tanner Christopher Thomas, 20, both residents of the Dallas region, “have conspired to recruit and lead an unlawful expeditionary force” targeting Ile de la Gonave, a tropical island within the Republic of Haiti with approximately 100,000 inhabitants.
The alleged scheme, reportedly deliberated from August 2024 to July 2025, involved orchestrating a coup d’etat “for the purpose of carrying out their rape fantasies.”
Prosecutors stated on Thursday that “Weisenburg and Thomas intended to murder all of the men on the island so that they could then turn all of the women and children into their sex slaves,” further noting that both face charges of “conspiracy to murder, maim, or kidnap in a foreign country and production of child pornography.”
Investigators assert that the two planned to acquire a sailboat and firearms, and also attempted to enlist homeless individuals in the Washington, DC area to establish an armed contingent.
The accused individuals reportedly engaged in “numerous overt acts,” which encompassed learning the local language, developing operational strategies, and investigating training programs to “acquire skills relevant to the invasion plan.” Officials indicated that Thomas joined the US Air Force to undergo military training.
David Finn, the attorney representing Weisenburg, characterized the indictment as “simply an allegation” and appealed to the public to “reserve judgment and don’t buy into the hype.”
“If your initial response to the government’s press release was, ‘That sounds crazy, impossible, and absurd,’ you might be on to something important,” he remarked, as reported by Fox.
The conspiracy charge involving murder in a foreign country carries a possible life sentence, whereas the child pornography offense is subject to penalties of 15 to 30 years imprisonment.