A Texas woman who told FBI agents her husband sent
ricin-laced letters -- one to President Barack Obama, one to New York City
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and one to the director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns
-- was arrested Friday, a source said.
Actress Shannon Richardson, 35, of New Boston, Texas, first
came to the attention of the FBI when she called them to report her belief that
her husband may have sent the letters, the source said.
Richardson, also known as Shannon Guess and Shannon Rogers,
is charged with mailing a threatening communication to the president of the
United States, Eastern District of Texas U.S. Attorney John M. Bales and FBI
Special Agent in Charge Diego Rodriguez said Friday.
She was arrested in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, and appeared before
Magistrate Judge Caroline Craven in Texarkana, Texas, authorities said. She
faces up to 10 years in federal prison if convicted.
"According to the arrest affidavit, on May 20, 2013,
Richardson is alleged to have actually mailed three letters containing the
toxin ricin," according to a news release from the U.S. attorney's office
in the Eastern District of Texas.
The letters were sent to Obama and Mark Glaze in Washington,
D.C., and to Bloomberg in New York, authorities said.
Richardson initially told FBI agents her husband, Nathan
Richardson, 33, an Army veteran who she wed in 2011, may have been behind the
mailings, the source said.
She claimed to have found castor beans -- from which ricin
is derived -- and Internet searches on their home computer regarding ricin that
made her believe he was the culprit, the source said.
Investigators, through several rounds of questioning,
polygraphs, and evidence analysis of the couple's home and vehicles, ultimately
determined Shannon Richardson had mailed the ricin herself and attempted to set
up her husband to take the fall, the source said.
The source said the Richardsons were having problems in
their marriage and planned to divorce. Shannon Richardson has five children and
is pregnant, the source said. She is a former beauty pageant winner in Texas
who appeared on "The Walking Dead" and "The Vampire
Diaries."
The source noted that a similar incident played out in April
when James Everett Dutschke of Tupelo, Miss., allegedly tried to frame another
man for sending ricin-laced letters. That man was arrested and released before
Dutschke was arrested and charged with sending letters to Obama, U.S. Sen.
Roger Wicker of Mississippi and a county court judge. Investigators believe the
copycat element could have played a role here, the source said.
FBI agents wearing hazardous material suits were seen
Wednesday going in and out of the Richardsons' house in New Boston, about 150
miles northeast of Dallas near the Oklahoma and Arkansas borders, The
Associated Press reported.
In a statement Friday afternoon, New York City Police
Commissioner Ray Kelly commended the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force for
making an arrest in the case.
"Fortunately, neither Mayor Bloomberg, President Obama,
the director of the Mayors Committee Against Illegal Guns, nor those who
processed the ricin-laced mail incurred serious illness or injury, in part
because of safety measures already in place," Kelly said in a statement.
If inhaled, ricin can cause respiratory failure, among other
symptoms. If swallowed, it can shut down the liver and other organs, resulting
in death. The amount of ricin that can fit on the head of a pin is said to be
enough to kill an adult if properly prepared. No antidote is available, though
researchers are trying to develop one.
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