Woman Admits Ricin Letters Were Hers, Not Husband's, Says FBI
The FBI revealed that a woman from Texas admitted sending ricin laced letters to President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, but only after trying to pin it on her husband.
Authorities say actress Shannon Guess Richardson was arrested Friday in Arkansas and was charged with mailing the poison letters to the president and the NYC mayor. The federal charge carries up to 10 years in prison.
The 35-year-old pregnant mother of five contacted authorities on May 30 to implicate her husband, but an FBI affidavit says she failed a polygraph test and investigators found inconsistencies in her story.
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No charges have been filed against her husband. His attorney says the couple is divorcing and the letters were a setup.
The ricin letter were postmarked May 20 and sent without a return address or signature, officials have said.
The text of the mailings threatened: "what's in this letter is nothing compared to what I've got planned for you," police and law enforcement sources said.
The letters addressed to Bloomberg were intercepted at a Shreveport, La. mail facility, while authorities stated the letters addressed to the president were found at another location.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies ricin as a poison that is found naturally in castor beans. Affected individuals may experience difficulty breathing, as well as vomiting and redness of skin.
