Two North Texas men planned an invasion of a Haitian island, according to a report by the U.S. Attorney's Office Eastern District.
The alleged plot included plans to recruit people without stable housing living in the District of Columbia to serve as a mercenary force and invade an island off Haiti, stage a coup d’etat, murder all the men on the island, and enslave the women and children to serve as sex slaves.
Gavin Rivers Weisenburg, a 21-year-old Allen resident, and Tanner Christopher Thomas, a 20-year-old Argyle resident, were named in a federal grand jury indictment on two counts of conspiracy to murder, maim or kidnap in a foreign country and production of child pornography.
Both face up to life in prison for the conspiracy charges and 15-30 years in federal prison on the child pornography charges.
Weisenburg was booked into the Collin County Jail on July 3 and released to another agency on July 8. Thomas was booked into the county jail on Thursday and remained in custody Friday afternoon, according to jail records.
“A grand jury indictment is not evidence of guilt,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in the news release. “All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.”
The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, the FBI and the Celina Police Department are investigating the case.
Information presented in court indicated that Weisenburg and Thomas’ plot began in August 2024 and continued until July 2025. Their target was La Gonâve, Haiti’s largest island with a population of approximately 85,000 people.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Weisenburg and Thomas spent nearly a year undertaking numerous overt acts to further their invasion plan and carry out their “rape fantasies.”
Those overt acts include making operational and logistical plans, learning Haitian Creole, recruiting others to join the invasion, and researching and enrolling in schools to acquire skills relevant to their invasion plan.
“Thomas even enlisted in the U.S. Air Force to acquire military skills relevant to the invasion plan,” according to the news release.
On Friday morning, the spokesperson for Celina Police Department was out of the office.