Two Texans, accused of planning to take over an island from Haiti by force. They wanted to kill all the men and turn the women and children into sex slaves
Two Texas men planned to recruit homeless people to take part in an armed coup on a Haitian island, kill all the men and turn the women and children into sex slaves, according to an indictment.
Gavin Rivers Weisenburg and Tanner Christopher Thomas face life in prison PHOTO: X
Two Texas men planned to recruit homeless people to take part in an armed coup on an island in Haiti, kill all the men and turn the women and children into sex slaves, according to an indictment, The Seattle Times writes.
The men — 21-year-old Allen, Texas, and Tanner Christopher Thomas, 20, of Argyle, Texas — were charged Thursday in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, federal prosecutors said in a news release.
According to the indictment, Weisenburg and Thomas began planning the coup in August 2024. The two planned to travel by sailboat to Gonave, an island of about 87,000 people that is part of Haiti, and take it by force.
To prepare for the coup, the two men began to learn skills they found useful. According to the indictment, both were learning Haitian Creole.
Weisenburg enrolled at the Fire Academy in Rockwall, Texas in August 2024 to learn “command and control protocols”, according to the indictment. He failed his fire academy exams and was expelled in February 2025.
After failing the exam, Weisenburg traveled to Thailand to learn to sail, according to court documents. The two men planned to buy a sailboat to reach Gonave, but because of the cost, Weisenburg did not enroll in sailing school.
Thomas enlisted in the United States Air Force in January 2025. He texted Weisenburg, telling her he enlisted to help with their plans, according to court documents.
Thomas was originally stationed in Germany but was transferred to Maryland. According to the indictment, the two men planned to recruit and pay homeless people in the Washington area to join the coup.
According to the press release, the two men were looking for guns and ammunition and planned to buy military-style weapons. Once they took control of the island, they planned to kill the men and turn the women and children into sex slaves to fulfill their sexual fantasies.
The indictment named accomplices but did not identify them or specify the role they might have played in the plot. It is not known whether the federal authorities found out about the coup plans.
Weisenburg and Thomas were charged with conspiracy to kill or kidnap persons in a foreign country. They were also charged with child sexual exploitation for producing a sexually explicit video with a child, according to the indictment.
If convicted of federal conspiracy to commit a crime in a foreign country, the two men face up to life in a federal prison, prosecutors said. If convicted of producing child pornography, the two men face between 15 and 30 years in federal prison.
