Gavin Rivers Weisenburg (21) and Tanner Christopher Thomas (20) have been charged in relation to a plot that included invading an island off Haiti, murdering the men on the island, and using the women and children as sex slaves.
Gavin Weisenburg and Tanner Thomas are alleged to have conspired to recruit and lead an unlawful expeditionary force to the Island of Gonave, which is part of the Republic of Haiti, for the purpose of carrying out their rape fantasies. The two planned to purchase a sailboat, firearms, and ammunition, then recruit members of the District of Columbia-area homeless population to serve as a mercenary force as they invaded Gonave Island and staged a coup d'etat. 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. Weisenburg and Thomas undertook numerous overt acts in furtherance of their invasion plan, including making operational and logistical plans, learning Haitian Creole language, recruiting others to join the invasion plan, and researching and enrolling in schools to acquire skills relevant to the invasion plan. Thomas even enlisted in the USAF to acquire military skills relevant to the invasion plan.
Map: Gonave, Haiti
This idiotic and perverse plan is right out of the 19th-century "Knights of the Golden Circle" or the Eugene O'Neill play "The Emperor Jones," but far, far worse. 87,000 to 20,000 residents live on Gonave Island and the well-armed and desperate Haitian gangs have not yet seemed to penetrate the island. After conviction, the sentencing judge should throw away the key.
A grand jury indictment is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
Tanner Thomas, mugshot courtesy of Collin County Sheriff's Office.
