The Springfield woman accused of the plot said Friday she “absolutely” did not plan to kidnap the governor and refused to take further questions. The Dayton Daily News is not naming her because she has not been charged with a crime.
State Rep. John Becker, R-Union Twp., posted a video on Youtube on Wednesday thanking the Piqua resident. Becker said the “hero” received a call last Friday, Oct. 16, about an alleged plot to arrest the governor at his home in Cedarville last weekend.
“The plot did not materialize and the governor was not in danger at all,” Becker said. “But the plan was, and this is what gets scary, is they were planning to arrest the governor at his home, put him on trial for tyranny and with the potential penalty for that being either execution or exile.”
Although Becker has been critical of the governor, he denounced vigilantism in the video.
Previously, the Piqua resident told police on Oct. 16 that he received a phone call from a Springfield woman who said she was organizing a group “who intended to go to the governor’s residence and arrest him for tyranny.”
He said he told the caller he did not want to be involved. The Piqua man may have been contacted because, as he told police, he has submitted affidavits to the Miami County court filing 10 charges against the governor because of his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Becker has previously encouraged filing such affidavits.
The woman referenced in the police report posted a video to her Facebook page on Friday in which she declared she is removing DeWine from office using authority granted to the people by the Declaration of Independence. In the video, she took the governor’s oath of office, attempting to declare herself the new governor.
Becker told the Dayton Daily News on Friday he met with the woman about two weeks ago, and she did not seem dangerous at the time.
“We have a common goal to get the governor to step down, resign, have him impeached, thrown in jail or something, get the state of Ohio opened up again, restore the rule of law," he said. “But she and I have different ways of going about it.”
During a press conference about CARES Act funding held Friday afternoon, DeWine said he was not aware of the alleged plot and that he couldn’t talk about it.
DeWine said in regards to the plot to kidnap the Michigan governor that came to light earlier this month that “we’re a country and state of rules and laws,” and that we should denounce efforts to try and go around it.
The Piqua Police Department said the case has been forward to the Ohio State Highway Patrol for investigation. DeWine’s press secretary deferred security questions to the highway patrol, which handles the governor’s security.
Lt. Craig S. Cvetan, public affairs commander for the Ohio State Highway Patrol, said in an emailed statement, “I can confirm we were made aware of the information reported to the Piqua Police Department and are currently investigating the incident. For security reasons, the patrol does not discuss the details of threats or safety issues involving the governor.”
The Piqua resident late Friday told the Dayton Daily News “there’s no love lost between me and Mike DeWine.”
However, after hearing the Springfield woman’s plan, he said he thought: "Could she do something? Would she do something? ... If the answer could be yes, then I have an obligation to talk to the authorities.”
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