Two North Texas men have been indicted on charges tied to an alleged plan to seize Haiti’s Gonâve Island, the Justice Department says. The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, names 21-year-old Gavin Weisenburg of Allen and 20-year-old Tanner Thomas of Argyle and alleges a violent conspiracy involving co-conspirators.
Prosecutors say the defendants planned to kill all men on Gonâve and capture women and children for sexual enslavement. The indictment alleges the co-conspirators conducted research, reconnaissance, recruiting and planning, and sought training to carry out the plot.
Both men are charged with conspiracy to kill or kidnap persons in a foreign country and face one count of producing child pornography. The conspiracy count carries a possible life sentence; the child pornography count carries up to 30 years in prison, according to the indictment.
Defense attorneys said their clients will plead not guilty. David Finn, Weisenburg’s attorney, urged the public to “hold their horses,” calling the government’s release potentially misleading. John Helms, representing Thomas, said his client will be “defended vigorously against these charges.”
Federal prosecutors allege the planning began in August 2024 and included communications on social media, Haitian Creole lessons, and research into weapons, ammunition and explosives, including military-style rifles. They say the defendants planned to transport firearms, ammunition and explosives to Haiti by sailboat. The indictment alleges Weisenburg traveled to Thailand to enroll in sailing school to prepare for buying a sailboat and making the voyage.
Prosecutors also allege Thomas enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in January 2025 to obtain training useful for the planned attack, and that he changed his basic training assignment from Ramstein Air Base in Germany to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to facilitate recruitment in Washington, D.C. The indictment claims the pair plotted to recruit and hire homeless people from Washington, D.C., to help overthrow Haiti’s government on Gonâve. A U.S. Air Force spokesperson did not respond to an NPR request for comment.
Weisenburg is accused of enrolling in the North Texas Fire Academy in Rockwall in August 2024 to train for the coup but reportedly failed out nearly six months later, prosecutors say.
Gonâve Island is about 30 miles northwest of Port-au-Prince and has an estimated population of roughly 87,000. The case remains an active federal investigation, and the allegations in the indictment have not been proven in court.