Two Texas males’s twisted fantasy to recruit homeless to invade distant island, kill its inhabitants and ravage their ladies
Two Texas men allegedly planned to recruit homeless people to invade a remote Haitian island where they would murder all the men and turn the women and children into their sex slaves.
Gavin Rivers Weisenburg, 21, of Allen, and Tanner Christopher Thomas, 20, of Argyle, were indicted Thursday in the US District court for the Eastern District of Texas in connection with their alleged scheme.
Authorities say they devised their plan in August 2024 to travel by sailboat to Gonave, an island of about 87,000 people that is under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Haiti, and overtake it with the help of a homeless army.
The men even allegedly started learning skills they thought would be helpful to accomplish their goal, including learning Haitian Creole.
Weisenburg also allegedly joined the North Texas Fire Academy in August 2024 to learn ‘command-and-control protocols,’ but failed out of the program and was dismissed in February 2025.
At that point, he allegedly traveled to Thailand to learn how to sail – as he and Thomas had originally planned to buy a sailboat to reach Gonave, but because of the cost, Weisenburg never actually enrolled in the classes.
Meanwhile, Thomas joined the US Air Force in January 2025 and reportedly messaged Weisenburg to tell him he joined the military to help further their plans.
He was originally stationed in Germany, but managed to get his placement changed to Maryland. The duo were then planning to recruit and pay homeless people from around Washington DC to join their coup.
Tanner Christopher Thomas, 20, and Gavin Rivers Weisenburg, 21, are facing federal charges for their alleged plan to recruit homeless people to invade a remote Haitian island, where they would murder all the men and turn the women and children into their sex slaves
Weisenburg and Thomas also researched guns and ammunition, and planned to buy military-style weapons, federal investigators allege.
Once they would then gain control of the island, the men allegedly planned to murder the men and turn the women and children into their sex slaves to ‘carry out their rape fantasies.’
It also remains unclear how federal authorities became aware of their plans.
The indictment does mention other co-conspirators, but did not identify them or say what roles they may have played in the plot.
However, it notes that Weisenburg and Thomas worked to recruit others both online and in-person to carry out their coup through July 2025.
The two men are now facing charges of conspiracy to kill or kidnap persons in a foreign country and sexual exploitation of children for producing a sexually-explicit video of a child.
If convicted, they face up to life in prison.
Authorities say they devised their plan in August 2024 to travel by sailboat to Gonave (pictured), an island of about 87,000 people that is under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Haiti, and overtake it with the help of a homeless army
In a statement to KDFW, David Finn, an attorney representing Weisenburg, said he encourages ‘everyone to hold their horses and stay tuned.
‘An indictment is simply an allegation. And while there is some truth to the allegations, I believe that it will become clear what actually did, did not and could not have happened,’ he noted.
‘If your initial response to the government’s press release was “That sounds crazy, impossible and absurd,” you might be onto something important,’ Finn continued.
‘Reserve judgment and don’t buy into the hype – at least not yet.’
John Helms, an attorney for Thomas, also said he would be entering a not guilty plea on Monday.
He said he will be defending his client ‘vigorously’ against the charges.
