An Argyle resident was one of two men indicted for being connected to a plan to invade a foreign island, murder the men and use the women and children as sex slaves.
20-year-old Tanner Christopher Thomas of Argyle and 21-year-old Gavin Rivers Weisenburg of Allen were charged with conspiracy to murder, maim or kidnap in a foreign country and production of child pornography, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Texas.
A press release said the two allegedly plotted, sometime between August 2024 and July 2025, to “recruit and lead an unlawful expeditionary force to the island of Gonave, which is part of the Republic of Haiti and in close proximity.”
Thomas and Weisenburg’s plot allegedly involved the pair buying a sailboat, firearms and ammunition. After that, they would recruit homeless people from the Washington D.C. area to “serve as a mercenary force” as they invaded the island and “staged a coup d’etat,” officials said.
“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,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Texas said in the release.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Thomas and Weisenburg began to pursue their plot by “making operational and logistical plans, learning the Haitian Creole language, recruiting others to join the invasion and researching and enrolling in schools to acquire skills relevant to the invasion plan.”
Thomas enlisted in the U.S. Air Force to learn military skills relevant to the plot.
According to the press release, the two were also charged with production of child pornography in a related count in the indictment.
Thomas and Weisenburg have not been convicted and a grand jury indictment does not mean the two are guilty. If they are convicted on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country, they face up to life in federal prison.
If convicted of the federal production of child pornography charges, both face at least 15 years and up to 30 years in federal prison.
The case is still being investigated by the FBI, U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Celina Police Department.
