Two Texas Men Indicted for Gonave Island Invasion Plot

Two Texas men face federal charges for allegedly plotting a violent invasion of Gonave Island off the coast of Haiti, with intentions to murder the island's male residents and enslave women and children to fulfill assault fantasies, prosecutors announced Thursday.

Gavin Rivers Weisenburg, 21, of Allen, and Tanner Christopher Thomas, 20, of Argyle, were indicted by a federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Texas on charges of conspiracy to murder, maim, or kidnap in a foreign country, as well as production of illegal child imagery. The alleged conspiracy unfolded between August 2024 and July 2025, according to court documents. If convicted on the conspiracy charge, the men could face life in prison. The child imagery charges carry mandatory minimum sentences of 15 years and maximums of 30 years.

Prosecutors detailed how Weisenburg and Thomas planned to assemble an unlawful expeditionary force by purchasing a sailboat, firearms, and ammunition. They aimed to recruit members of the homeless population in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area to serve as mercenaries. The group would then sail to Gonave Island, a 743-square-kilometer landmass about 30 miles northwest of...