The Mississippi man accused of mailing letters with
the poison ricin has been charged with threatening U.S. President Barack Obama
and others.
Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, appeared in court on
two federal charges of threatening the president, U.S. Republican Senator Roger
Wicker of Mississippi, and a judge. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years
in prison.
The FBI confirmed Thursday that the letters to Obama
and Wicker contained ricin.
Investigators said both letters were intercepted at
screening facilities away from the White House and Senate offices. The
president and Wicker were in no danger.
The AP said Senate sergeant-at-arms Terrance Gainer
said the ricin, which was found Tuesday at a Maryland mail processing center,
was not weaponized.
Investigators said both letters were intercepted at
screening facilities away from the White House and Senate offices and did not
place either the president or the senator in immediate danger.
Ricin previously turned up in the U.S. Senate
mailroom in 2004, forcing authorities to temporarily shut down two Senate
office buildings.
Mail laced with the highly toxic bacterium anthrax
appeared in post offices, newsrooms and U.S. congressional offices in the days
and weeks following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on New York and
Washington.
Those attacks were later linked to a government
scientist who killed himself while under investigation in 2008.
Sources :
http://www.voanews.com/content/man-charged-with-threatening-president/1644248.html
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