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ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17938 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
 Posted: 17-04-2013 23:48 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | US intercepts 'ricin' letter to Obama
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22190031
Jay Carney, White House spokesman: "They will be conducting further tests"
A letter addressed to US President Barack Obama apparently containing ricin has been intercepted.
Initial tests on the letter, identified at a remote facility, showed the presence of the lethal toxin.
The letter, which arrived at the facility on 16 April, is related to another laced with ricin intended for a US senator, the FBI said.
The FBI said there was "no indication of a connection" between the letters and Monday's deadly attack on Boston.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said the letters addressed to the president and Republican Senator Roger Wicker were both postmarked Memphis, Tennessee, and dated 8 April.
The letters read: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance," according to US media citing intelligence sources.
They were reportedly signed: "I am KC and I approve this message."
The contents of the letter intended for President Obama were being sent to an accredited laboratory for further analysis, the FBI said, with results expected in 24 to 48 hours.
Continue reading the main story
Ricin
Can be fatal when inhaled, ingested or - most dangerously - injected
One to three castor beans chewed by a child, or just eight seeds chewed by an adult, can be fatal
The toxin is part of the waste produced when castor oil is made
Q&A: What is ricin?
Earlier, police questioned a man in the area who had a backpack containing sealed envelopes, but he was not taken into custody.
Reports of suspicious packages and envelopes also led to areas within two Senate office buildings being cleared temporarily.
Meanwhile Democratic Senator Carl Levin said an aide had received a suspicious-looking letter and that the authorities were investigating.
All congressional mail has been sorted and tested off-site since letters laced with anthrax were posted to two senators in 2001.
A spokesman for the Secret Service, which protects the US president and his family, said it was liaising with the US Capitol Police and the FBI to trace the origins of the letters.
Ricin, extracted from castor beans, is 1,000 times more toxic than cyanide.
It can be fatal when inhaled, swallowed or injected, although it is possible to recover from exposure. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17938 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 18-04-2013 12:38 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Obama 'ricin' letter suspect arrested
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22194061
Jay Carney, White House spokesman: "They will be conducting further tests"
An arrest has been made after letters containing suspected ricin were sent to US President Barack Obama and a US senator.
The alleged sender, Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, is a resident of Mississippi.
Initial tests on the letters, identified at remote facilities, showed the presence of the lethal toxin.
The FBI has said there is "no indication of a connection" between the letters and Monday's deadly attack in Boston.
The letters addressed to the president and Republican Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker were both postmarked Memphis, Tennessee, and dated 8 April.
The letters read: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance," according to US media citing intelligence sources.
They were reportedly signed: "I am KC and I approve this message."
The FBI said Mr Curtis also allegedly sent a third letter positively identified for ricin to a Mississippi justice official.
The contents of the letter intended for President Obama were being sent to an accredited laboratory for further analysis, the FBI said, with results expected in 24 to 48 hours.
Continue reading the main story
Ricin
Can be fatal when inhaled, ingested or - most dangerously - injected
One to three castor beans chewed by a child, or just eight seeds chewed by an adult, can be fatal
The toxin is part of the waste produced when castor oil is made
Q&A: What is ricin?
Earlier, police questioned a man in the near the US capitol who had a backpack containing sealed envelopes, but he was not taken into custody.
Reports of suspicious packages and envelopes also led to areas within two Senate office buildings being cleared temporarily.
Meanwhile Democratic Senator Carl Levin said an aide had received a suspicious-looking letter and that the authorities were investigating. The staff member had no symptoms, Sen Levin said in a statement, but was staying overnight in hospital as a precaution.
All congressional mail has been sorted and tested off-site since letters laced with anthrax were posted to two senators in 2001.
A spokesman for the Secret Service, which protects the US president and his family, said it was liaising with the US Capitol Police and the FBI to trace the origins of the letters.
Ricin, extracted from castor beans, is 1,000 times more toxic than cyanide.
It can be fatal when inhaled, swallowed or injected, although it is possible to recover from exposure. |
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| EnolaGaia Joined: 19 Jul 2004 Total posts: 1305 Location: USA Gender: Male |
| Posted: 18-04-2013 13:33 Post subject: |
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The person arrested seems to have been a lone wolf with a longstanding grudge involving a prior business and a purported conspiracy ....
| Quote: |
Miss. man arrested for mailing suspected ricin
CORINTH, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi man accused of mailing letters with suspected ricin to national leaders believed he had uncovered a conspiracy to sell human body parts on the black market and claimed "various parties within the government" were trying to ruin his reputation.
Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, was arrested Wednesday at his home in Corinth, near the Tennessee state line.
Authorities were waiting for definitive tests on intercepted letters that were addressed to President Barack Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss. Preliminary field tests can often show false positives for ricin. Ricin is derived from the castor plant that makes castor oil. There is no antidote and it's deadliest when inhaled.
An FBI intelligence bulletin obtained by The Associated Press said the two letters were postmarked Memphis, Tenn.
Both letters said: "To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance." Both were signed, "I am KC and I approve this message."
It was not immediately known what charges Curtis faced.
The letters had Washington on edge in the days after the Boston Marathon bombing. As authorities scurried to investigate three questionable packages discovered in Senate office buildings Wednesday, reports of suspicious items also came in from at least three senators' offices in their home states. The items were found to be harmless.
In Corinth, a city of about 14,000, police cordoned off part of a subdivision where Curtis lived. At least five police cars were on the scene, but there didn't appear to be any hazardous-material crews and no neighbors were evacuated. The one-story, single-family home is similar to the others in the neighborhood, with red brick with white trim.
Neighbors, who said Curtis kept to himself and did not seem violent, were concerned by the idea that someone was making poison in the house that sits so close to their bedrooms and front yards.
Next-door neighbor Kayla Latch, 18, lives with her mother and her two brothers and said they were worried that toxic chemicals could be released when investigators enter the home.
"I'm afraid they might open it up and it (poison) might go into the air and hurt someone," Latch said.
Latch said Curtis lived with a woman and a teenage boy when he first moved in, but they appeared to have moved out.
Matthew Latch, Kayla's brother, said he would sometimes hear Curtis playing his guitar outside the house late at night.
Ricky Curtis, who said he was Kevin Curtis' cousin, said the family was shocked by the news of the arrest. He described his cousin as a "super entertainer" who impersonated Elvis and numerous other singers.
"We're all in shock. I don't think anybody had a clue that this kind of stuff was weighing on his mind," Ricky Curtis said in a telephone interview.
Ricky Curtis said his cousin had written about problems he had with a cleaning business and that he felt the government had not treated him well, but he said nobody in the family would have expected this. He said the writings were titled, "Missing Pieces."
A MySpace page for a cleaning company called The Cleaning Crew confirms that they "do windows" and has profile photo of "Kevin Curtis, Master of Impressions." A YouTube channel under the name of Kevin Curtis has dozens of videos of him performing as different famous musicians, including Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Kid Rock.
"As far as him being anti-government, I'm not going to say that, but he had some issues with some stuff that happened with his cleaning business," the cousin said.
Multiple online posts on various websites under the name Kevin Curtis refer to the conspiracy he claimed to uncover when working at a local hospital from 1998 to 2000.
The author wrote the conspiracy that began when he "discovered a refrigerator full of dismembered body parts & organs wrapped in plastic in the morgue of the largest non-metropolitan healthcare organization in the United States of America."
Curtis wrote that he was trying to "expose various parties within the government, FBI, police departments" for what he believed was "a conspiracy to ruin my reputation in the community as well as an ongoing effort to break down the foundation I worked more than 20 years to build in the country music scene."
In one post, Curtis said he sent letters to Wicker and other politicians.
"I never heard a word from anyone. I even ran into Roger Wicker several different times while performing at special banquets and fundraisers in northeast, Mississippi but he seemed very nervous while speaking with me and would make a fast exit to the door when I engaged in conversation..."
He signed off: "This is Kevin Curtis & I approve this message."
The FBI said there was no indication of a connection between the letters and the Monday bombing in Boston that killed three people and injured more than 170. The letters to Obama and Wicker were postmarked April 8, before the marathon.
Obama's press secretary, Jay Carney, said mail sent to the White House is screened at a remote site for the safety of the recipients and the general public. He declined to comment on the significance of the preliminary ricin result, referring questions to the FBI.
At a House hearing, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe noted there had been ricin alerts since the notorious 2001 anthrax mailings and procedures are in place to protect postal employees and help track down culprits.
"Over the course of years we've had some situations where there have been ricin scares," Donahoe said. "Until this date, there's never been any actually proved that have gone through the system."
SOURCE: http://news.yahoo.com/miss-man-arrested-mailing-suspected-ricin-095445629.html
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| krakenten Great Old One Joined: 03 Feb 2012 Total posts: 175 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 18-04-2013 16:26 Post subject: |
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I guess the simpleton expected Obama to lick the letter.
Considering that we have a large population, and that a certain percentage of any given population is bughouse, it's a wonder these incidents are so rare.
The CIA, at great trouble and expense got hold of the hideously lethal venom of a rare cone shell, lethal in a very short time, and in tiny quantities. It might have been used on very small darts to achieve the effect that poison darts have in the movies. hiss,thunk,plop.
When the USA renounced CBR weapons in the mid 70s, a small drum of this stuff was found in a vault, and the Democrats went witch hunting, howling in outrage.
Granted that it was something that was a bio weapon, it should have been destroyed, still, it had cost Uncle Sam a small fortune, and that it was more a weapon of certain, speedy individual destruction than a WMD.
The wacky world of spook weapons has again turned and bitten us. |
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| garrick92 Invisible Flaneur Joined: 29 Oct 2001 Total posts: 700 Gender: Unknown |
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| krakenten Great Old One Joined: 03 Feb 2012 Total posts: 175 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 19-04-2013 16:33 Post subject: |
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| Why am I not surprised? |
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| OneWingedBird Great Old One Joined: 19 Nov 2012 Total posts: 542 Location: Attice of blinkey lights Age: 44 Gender: Female |
| Posted: 19-04-2013 17:24 Post subject: |
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At least he wasn;t a clown.  |
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| davidplankton Great Old One Joined: 31 Jul 2005 Total posts: 227 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 19-04-2013 17:46 Post subject: |
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| Obama should have returned to sender. |
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| cherrybomb Skating the thin crust
Great Old One Joined: 26 Aug 2009 Total posts: 1008 Location: Sitting on the roof at dusk Gender: Female |
| Posted: 19-04-2013 17:55 Post subject: |
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| davidplankton wrote: | | Obama should have returned to sender. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17938 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 24-04-2013 14:24 Post subject: |
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Elvis not guilty!
| Quote: | US drops case against ricin letter suspect Paul Curtis
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22273355
Paul Curtis: ''I respect President Obama and I love my country''
US authorities have dropped the charges against a Mississippi man accused of sending letters poisoned with ricin to President Barack Obama and a senator.
Paul Curtis was freed on Tuesday after prosecutors revealed the investigation had uncovered "new information".
The letters addressed to the president and a Mississippi senator tested positive for the presence of the lethal toxin this month.
Meanwhile, investigators in the case are searching the home of another man.
Mr Curtis was arrested last week at his home in the town of Corinth, Mississippi and charged with sending letters to Mr Obama, Republican Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker and a judge from Lee County.
'Very diabolical'
But on Monday authorities searched Mr Curtis' home and found neither ricin nor ingredients for the poison, an FBI agent testified in court. A search of his computer yielded no evidence he had researched how to make the toxin, the agent said.
In a news conference outside the courthouse on Tuesday, Mr Curtis thanked his family, friends, Jesus, Sen Wicker and Mr Obama.
"I love my country and would never do anything to pose a threat to [Mr Obama] or any other US official," said Mr Curtis, a musician and Elvis impersonator who also said he was a certified reflexologist.
"I would like to get back to normal, which for me means being the best father that I could be for my children and entertaining through my music."
He was already well known to Sen Wicker because he had written to the Republican senator and other officials.
Mr Curtis' lawyer Christi McCoy, whom Mr Curtis described as a blonde, blue-eyed angel sent by God, told reporters she believed the FBI agents who had arrested and charged her client had "acted in good faith".
Ms McCoy said she was unsure what new information prosecutors had but that the plot to frame her client was "very, very diabolical".
According to an FBI affidavit released on Thursday, the letters read: "Maybe I have your attention now even if that means someone must die. To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance."
The letters were signed: "I am KC and I approve this message."
Mensa dispute
As the case against Mr Curtis appeared to collapse on Monday and Tuesday, another man in nearby Tupelo, Mississippi, told the Associated Press authorities were searching his home in connection with the ricin letters.
Everett Dutschke denies sending the poisoned letter
Everett Dutschke said he was innocent, and the Associated Press reported agents from numerous law enforcement agencies had established a mobile crime lab near his home.
"I don't know how much more of this I can take," Mr Dutschke said. No charges have been filed against him nor has he been arrested.
The search team also combed through an area of woods and ditches about a block from Mr Dutschke's property.
Mr Dutschke said he and Mr Curtis had had a dispute, cutting off contact in 2010, after he threatened to sue Mr Curtis for saying he was a member of Mensa, a group for people with high IQs.
"I'm a patriotic American," Mr Dutschke, who unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Mississippi House of Representative in 2007, said. "I don't have any grudges against anybody. I did not send the letter." |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17938 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 24-04-2013 15:48 Post subject: |
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Elvis not guilty!
| Quote: | US drops case against ricin letter suspect Paul Curtis
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22273355
Paul Curtis: ''I respect President Obama and I love my country''
US authorities have dropped the charges against a Mississippi man accused of sending letters poisoned with ricin to President Barack Obama and a senator.
Paul Curtis was freed on Tuesday after prosecutors revealed the investigation had uncovered "new information".
The letters addressed to the president and a Mississippi senator tested positive for the presence of the lethal toxin this month.
Meanwhile, investigators in the case are searching the home of another man.
Mr Curtis was arrested last week at his home in the town of Corinth, Mississippi and charged with sending letters to Mr Obama, Republican Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker and a judge from Lee County.
'Very diabolical'
But on Monday authorities searched Mr Curtis' home and found neither ricin nor ingredients for the poison, an FBI agent testified in court. A search of his computer yielded no evidence he had researched how to make the toxin, the agent said.
In a news conference outside the courthouse on Tuesday, Mr Curtis thanked his family, friends, Jesus, Sen Wicker and Mr Obama.
"I love my country and would never do anything to pose a threat to [Mr Obama] or any other US official," said Mr Curtis, a musician and Elvis impersonator who also said he was a certified reflexologist.
"I would like to get back to normal, which for me means being the best father that I could be for my children and entertaining through my music."
He was already well known to Sen Wicker because he had written to the Republican senator and other officials.
Mr Curtis' lawyer Christi McCoy, whom Mr Curtis described as a blonde, blue-eyed angel sent by God, told reporters she believed the FBI agents who had arrested and charged her client had "acted in good faith".
Ms McCoy said she was unsure what new information prosecutors had but that the plot to frame her client was "very, very diabolical".
According to an FBI affidavit released on Thursday, the letters read: "Maybe I have your attention now even if that means someone must die. To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance."
The letters were signed: "I am KC and I approve this message."
Mensa dispute
As the case against Mr Curtis appeared to collapse on Monday and Tuesday, another man in nearby Tupelo, Mississippi, told the Associated Press authorities were searching his home in connection with the ricin letters.
Everett Dutschke denies sending the poisoned letter
Everett Dutschke said he was innocent, and the Associated Press reported agents from numerous law enforcement agencies had established a mobile crime lab near his home.
"I don't know how much more of this I can take," Mr Dutschke said. No charges have been filed against him nor has he been arrested.
The search team also combed through an area of woods and ditches about a block from Mr Dutschke's property.
Mr Dutschke said he and Mr Curtis had had a dispute, cutting off contact in 2010, after he threatened to sue Mr Curtis for saying he was a member of Mensa, a group for people with high IQs.
"I'm a patriotic American," Mr Dutschke, who unsuccessfully ran for a seat in the Mississippi House of Representative in 2007, said. "I don't have any grudges against anybody. I did not send the letter." |
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| Mythopoeika Boring petty conservative
Joined: 18 Sep 2001 Total posts: 9109 Location: Not far from Bedford Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 24-04-2013 19:16 Post subject: |
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| ramonmercado wrote: | | Elvis not guilty! |
Thank you very much - a-huh.  |
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| kamalktk Great Old One Joined: 05 Feb 2011 Total posts: 705 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 24-04-2013 19:24 Post subject: |
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| ramonmercado wrote: | | Elvis not guilty! |
When they let him out, did he say "Elvis has left the building" ? |
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| gncxx King-Size Canary
Great Old One Joined: 25 Aug 2001 Total posts: 13561 Location: Eh? Gender: Male |
| Posted: 25-04-2013 18:05 Post subject: |
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| He probably won't be singing Jailhouse Rock again... |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17938 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 28-04-2013 00:11 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Mississippi man charged in US ricin letters inquiry
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22323146
Everett Dutschke has links to Paul Curtis, against whom charges were dropped this week
A man has been arrested in Mississippi and charged in connection with the sending of letters containing ricin to President Obama, a senator and a judge.
Everett Dutschke was detained at home in Tupelo on Saturday and handed over to US Marshals, police said.
Mr Dutschke has been charged with possessing a biological agent with intent to use as a weapon.
He has links to a man against whom charges were filed and later dropped, as well as the senator and judge.
Ricin is a naturally occurring protein, found in the castor oil plant, which is highly toxic. It is 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide.
List of names
Tupelo Police Chief Tony Carleton said Mr Dutschke was taken into custody without incident at 01:00 (06:00 GMT) on Saturday. His home had been under surveillance since Friday afternoon.
A law enforcement official told WTVA that the 41-year-old was being held at the Lafayette County Detention Center.
Continue reading the main story
Ricin
Can be fatal when inhaled, ingested or - most dangerously - injected
One to three castor beans chewed by a child, or just eight seeds chewed by an adult, can be fatal
The toxin is part of the waste produced when castor oil is made
Q&A: What is ricin?
The US Attorney's Office in the Northern District of Mississippi said in a press release that Mr Dutschke had been charged with developing, producing and possessing "a biological agent, toxin and delivery system for use as a weapon, to wit: ricin".
If convicted of the federal charge, he faces a maximum life term in jail and a $250,000 fine.
The office said Mr Dutschke was expected to appear in a district court in Mississippi on Monday.
Agents from the FBI and the US Capitol Police, as well as members of an anti-terrorist response team from the Mississippi National Guard, had searched Mr Dutschke's home on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well as the premises of a former martial arts studio he ran in Tupelo.
Attention turned to Mr Dutschke after charges were dropped on Tuesday against Paul Kevin Curtis, a local Elvis impersonator.
A search of Mr Curtis' home in nearby Corinth revealed no evidence to suggest he had sent the ricin-laced letters to President Obama, Senator Roger Wicker and Mississippi Judge Sadie Holland, officials said.
Agents searched the premises of a former martial arts studio Mr Dutschke ran in Tupelo
Hal Neilson, a lawyer for Mr Curtis, said Mr Dutschke's name had been submitted on a list of people who might have had a reason to hurt his client.
Mr Curtis said he had worked with Mr Dutschke several years ago, and that they had discussed publishing a book called Missing Pieces, about an alleged conspiracy to sell body parts on the black market. Mr Dutschke decided not to publish the material, Mr Curtis added.
But Mr Dutschke told the Associated Press that he did not know Mr Curtis well, and that the last time they had contact was in 2010.
Judge Holland's family is reported to have confronted Mr Dutschke at a political rally in the town of Verona in 2007, when he ran as a Republican against her son, Steve Holland, a Democratic state representative. Mr Holland said Mr Dutschke had made a derogatory speech about the Holland family, and that his mother had forced him to apologise.
Mr Dutschke said Steve Holland had exaggerated the incident, telling AP: "Everybody loves Sadie, including me."
He is also reported to know Senator Wicker. |
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