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A number of long-forgotten deadly microbes have been uncovered in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) laboratories in recent weeks, including the deadly toxin ricin and the bacteria that cause plague.
The highly poisonous substances were found in a hunt triggered by the accidental discovery in July of vials of smallpox at a lab near Washington.
They included vials of ricin and pathogens that cause botulism, the plague and a rare tropical infection.
The substances, some dating from nearly a century ago, have now been destroyed.
Officials from the NIH said some of its laboratories were cleared to use poisonous substances and were checked regularly.
A number of long-forgotten deadly microbes have been uncovered in the NIH laboratories in recent weeks
However, the recent finds were from historical collections that were once allowed to be stored without regulation.
They included a bottle of ricin, a highly poisonous toxin, found in a box with microbes thought to be 85 to 100 years old.
“NIH takes this matter very seriously. The finding of these agents highlights the need for constant vigilance in monitoring laboratory materials in compliance with federal regulations on biosafety,” a memo from the agency said.
The authorities said the newly discovered toxins had been improperly stored but were in sealed containers and no employees were in danger of infection.
The search for unregulated toxic substances was initiated after the discovery of long-forgotten vials of smallpox in July.
The virus, believed dead, was located in six freeze-dried and sealed vials. It was said to be the first time unaccounted-for smallpox has been discovered in the US.
The smallpox disease was officially declared eradicated in the 1980s.
James Everett Dutschke has pleaded guilty to sending President Barack Obama ricin-tainted letters.
The 42-year-old Mississippi man admitted he also sent poisoned letters to Republican Senator Roger Wicker and a Mississippi judge.
James Everett Dutschke is expected to be sentenced to 25 years in prison as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.
Police initially arrested a local Elvis impersonator in the case but later determined James Everett Dutschke had framed him.
James Everett Dutschke has pleaded guilty to sending President Barack Obama ricin-tainted letters
The two had known each other but had developed a rivalry and enmity.
Ricin is a naturally occurring protein found in the castor oil plant that is highly toxic. It is 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide.
The letters to Barack Obama and Roger Wicker were intercepted. The Mississippi judge received the ricin-tainted letter, but she was not harmed.
In separate cases last year, letters containing ricin were sent to former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, to President Barack Obama and to the CIA.
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Shannon Guess Richardson pleaded guilty in federal court on Tuesday to making the biological agent ricin that was sent in letters to President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
As part of a deal reached with federal prosecutors that has yet to be approved by a judge, Shannon Guess Richardson, 36, would spend 18 years in prison and then five years on supervised release, according to court documents.
Shannon Guess Richardson pleaded guilty to charges of manufacturing and possessing the toxic agent ricin
Shannon Guess Richardson, whose career included minor television roles in shows such as The Walking Dead, pleaded guilty to charges of manufacturing and possessing the toxic agent ricin, which was found in the letters.
She was initially charged with one count of making a threat against the President of the United States and two counts of mailing threatening communications.
Shannon Guess Richardson tried to blame her husband for the letters, sent in May, testing positive for the presence of ricin, according to prosecutors.
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Texas actress Shannon Guess Richardson, who is accused of mailing ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, has reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors, according to federal court documents.
Shannon Guess Richardson, 36, whose acting career included minor television roles, had attempted to blame her husband for sending the letters in May that tested positive for the presence of ricin, according to prosecutors.
Notice of the plea deal was filed on Thursday in US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Shannon Guess Richardson is accused of mailing ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Shannon Guess Richardson was arrested in June and a federal grand jury accused her in a three-count indictment of mailing the letters to Barack Obama, Michael Bloomberg and Mark Glaze, the director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group founded by Bloomberg that lobbies for stricter gun laws.
Ricin, a highly toxic substance, is found naturally in castor beans, but it takes a deliberate act to make ricin and use it to poison people, according to the CDC. Exposure to even a small amount can cause death and no known antidote exists.
Shannon Guess Richardson is charged with one count of making a threat against the president of the US and two counts of mailing threatening communications. She faces up to five years in prison on each count if convicted.
According to court documents, the letters read, in part: “You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns. Anyone wants to come to my house will get shot in the face.”
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The FBI teamed up with the US Postal Service to track down ricin mailing suspect Shannon Guess Richardson using a system that snaps pictures of “every mail piece that is processed”, according to a complaint.
Filed Friday in Texas, the complaint details how federal investigators narrowed down the origin of the letters by reviewing the pieces of mail scanned before and after the ricin containing letters sent to President Barack Obama, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a gun control lobby sponsored by the mayor.
Postmarked in Shreveport, Louisiana, the letters were processed at a regional distribution facility in the city, according to the complaint. Though in Louisiana, the plant also processes mail for parts of Arkansas and Texas, where Shannon Richardson resides, the complaint explains.
By referencing two separate batches of mail processed by the postal service’s Automated Facer Canceller System (ACFS) on May 20, as well as the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program, which takes the actual pictures of the mail, agents determined the mail came from the area around New Boston, Texas, the complaint states.
FBI and the US Postal Service tracked ricin suspect Shannon Guess Richardson down using an advanced system that takes pictures of and tracks every piece of mail sent in the US
The first of the three letters, addressed to mayor Michael Bloomberg, was opened four days later at a mail center in Lower Manhattan. The second was opened two days later in Washington, D.C., by a staffer at The Raben Group, the Bloomberg-sponsored gun control lobbying firm. The third was intercepted on May 30 before reaching President Barack Obama, having been opened at the White House mail facility, the complaint detailed.
Shannon Richardson met in Shreveport with investigators later that day, accused her husband of sending the letters and turned over a book of stamps, which investigators determined on June 3 to be the same book of stamps the ricin letters postage came from, said the complaint posted on the Smoking Gun.
Further investigation led to warrant-less searches of the couple’s New Boston home, turning up castor beans – which contain the toxic ricin poison, saved letters matching those mailed and other physical evidence, according to the report.
The nail in Shannon Richardson’s accusatory coffin was that her husband, Nathaniel Richardson, was found to have been working a 10-hour shift starting 6:30 a.m., which was corroborated by coworkers, the day the letters were postmarked, the complaint states.
Shannon Richardson’s alibi in shambles, she confessed to trying to set her husband up, she mailed the letters – a photo finish to a lie and, perhaps, her marriage.
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Nathaniel Richardson, a Texas Army veteran, is being questioned in connection with poison letters sent to President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg after his wife found a container in their refrigerator filled with what appeared to be ricin.
Father-of-five Nathaniel Richardson is a civilian employee of the Department of Defense who works at the Red River Army Depot. Sources said he is being treated as a person of interest.
His wife, actress Shannon Glass, told officers that as well as the container in the fridge, she also found internet searches related to ricin production, Barack Obama and Michael Bloomberg on their computer.
The development comes two days after it emerged that Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his anti-gun group were sent two ricin-laced letters. On Thursday, it was revealed that another, identical letter was sent to President Barack Obama.
Nathaniel Richardson, 37, was taken into police custody but has not been arrested. He is not considered a suspect at this time, reports the New York Post.
Neighbors said he worked at the Red River Army Depot, which was once used as an ammunition storage facility, and which now repairs Humvees and other military vehicles.
Shannon Glass, 35, is a model and actress who has had small roles in The Vampire Diaries and The Walking Dead. She is pregnant with her sixth child.
It comes after one of the ricin-tainted letters intended for Michael Bloomberg was pictured for the first time.
The envelope shows the letter, posted on May 20, was postmarked at Shreveport, Louisiana, where other letters intended for Mayor Michael Bloomberg and President Barack Obama were also handled.
Sources said that Nathaniel Richardson has connections to Shreveport. The city’s postal center handles mail from Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, KSLA reported.
The typed threat in the letter, splattered with the poisonous substance, is also shown. It tells the pro-gun control mayor: “You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns.
“Anyone wants to come to my house will be shot in the face. The right to bear arms is my constitutional God-given right and I will exercise that right ’til the day I die.
“What’s in this letter is nothing compared to what I’ve got planned for you.”
The letter sent to Barack Obama contained the same chilling text, sources said on Thursday.
Army veteran Nathaniel Richardson is being questioned in connection with poison letters sent to Barack Obama and Michael Bloomberg
The letter to the president was received at a mail screening facility and did not reach the White House, law enforcement sources told NBC4.
One of the letters sent to Michael Bloomberg was retrieved at the City Hall, and the second arrived at the headquarters of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which Bloomberg operates and personally finances.
They contained threats warning him to stay away from the gun laws debate, authorities said.
NYPD officials said the threatening letters were opened on Friday in New York at the city’s mail facility and on Sunday in Washington at the headquarters of the nonprofit.
Three members of the NYPD fell ill after being exposed to the letters, which contained a “pink, orange oily substance”, authorities said. Their symptoms have since subsided.
Michael Bloomberg, speaking Friday on his weekly WOR Radio show, shrugged off any specter of danger.
“There’s always threats, unfortunately. That comes with the job,” he said.
“I trust the police department and I feel perfectly safe. I’ve got more danger from lightning than from anything else and I’ll go about my business.”
On Wednesday, he said it would not scare him away from engaging in the debate over gun laws.
“There’s 12,000 people that are going to get killed this year with guns and 19,000 that are going to commit suicide with guns, and we’re not going to walk away from those efforts,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
“And I know I speak for all of the close to 1,000 mayors in Mayors Against Illegal Guns,” he said.
“This is a scourge on the country that we just have to make sure that we get under control and eliminate.”
It is not yet known why it took the FBI and the NYPD five days to announce the discovery.
The matter is being investigated by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force which said that the letter sent to Manhattan for billionaire Michael Bloomberg arrived at 100 Gold Street – the home of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development.
Both the New York and Washington D.C. notes were addressed to Michael Bloomberg and contained threats referencing the debate on gun laws.
The second letter to the mayor was opened by Mark Glaze, director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, who has not been reported to have fallen ill.
The NYPD confirmed preliminary testing indicated the presence of ricin.
“The FBI has an investigation ongoing and so things like the exact wording and the postmarks, etc. we’re not going to disclose,” NYPD deputy commissioner Paul Browne told WCBS 880.
“It was a pink-orange oily substance that subsequently, in the preliminary tests, indicate the presence of ricin.”
Ricin is a poison found naturally in castor beans.
It’s not clear if the letters were related to other threatening, ricin-laced letters sent to other lawmakers recently.
Authorities are now “in the process of searching to determine if there may be additional letters”, according to the statement.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is an outspoken critic of current gun laws and has campaigned nationally and on Capitol Hill for stricter gun legislation – using his own considerable wealth to fund commercials.
The confirmation of ricin present in both letters came through on Wednesday from the National Bioforensic Analysis Center in Maryland.
Ricin symptoms depend on the amount of exposure and dose received, but within a few hours lead to cough, fever, nausea, tightness in the chest and heavy breathing.
Death follows through fluid buildup in the lungs.
Several ricin-laced letters have been sent to U.S. politicians over the past few months – including one addressed to President Barack Obama in mid-April.
The Shreveport postal hub handles mail from parts of Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas.
A Mississippi man, James Everett Duschke stands accused of making the poison ricin and sending those letters – which also went to Senator Roger Wicker and a Mississippi judge.
Initially, a friend of James Everett Dutschke’s, Paul Kevin Curtis was arrested, but he claimed he had been framed after he was released.
What do the poisoned letters say?
One of the ricin-tainted letters sent to Bloomberg has been pictured. It reads:
“You will have to kill me and my family before you get my guns.
“Anyone wants to come to my house will be shot in the face.
“The right to bear arms is my constitutional God-given right and I will exercise that right ’til the day I die.
“What’s in this letter is nothing compared to what I’ve got planned for you.”
A suspicious letter sent to President Barack Obama was intercepted by the Secret Service.
The Secret Service said the letter was “similar” to two ricin poisoned letters mailed to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg this week and was being tested by FBI investigators.
The letters to Mayor Michael Bloomberg referred to his support for stricter gun control.
One was delivered to the Washington DC office of Michael Bloomberg’s gun control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
The other was addressed to the New York City mayor’s office but intercepted at a mail sorting facility.
Police have said preliminary testing of the letters sent to Michael Bloomberg indicated the presence of ricin, a poison extracted from castor beans.
A suspicious letter sent to President Barack Obama was intercepted by the Secret Service
One thousand times more toxic than cyanide, it can be fatal when inhaled, swallowed or injected, although it is possible to recover from exposure.
Law enforcement officials have told US media that all three letters were marked as having been sorted in a facility in Shreveport, Louisiana.
A Louisiana State Police spokeswoman said the Shreveport postal centre handled mail from Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, so the letter could have come from any of those states.
New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told reporters on Thursday he believed that the letter addressed to Barack Obama was identical to those sent to Michael Bloomberg.
According to Ray Kelly, the letters contained a threat to “shoot in the face” anyone who came for the sender’s guns.
Civilian personnel who came into contact with the letters experienced no symptoms. Minor symptoms in emergency workers who handled the letter at the sorting facility for the mayor’s office “have since abated”, the New York Police Department said in a statement.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is one of the most prominent proponents of stricter gun control laws in the US.
The firearms debate divides Americans and has leapt to the top of the political agenda since 26 people were killed in a school shooting in Connecticut in December.
In a separate case, a Mississippi man is charged with sending ricin-laced letters to Barack Obama, a judge and a Mississippi senator. Another man has been arrested in Washington state in connection with letters sent to a judge.
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Everett Dutschke from Mississippi has been arrested and charged in connection with the sending of letters containing ricin to President Barack Obama, Senator Roger Wicker and Judge Sadie Holland.
Everett Dutschke, 41, was detained at home in Tupelo on Saturday and handed over to US Marshals, police said.
He has been charged with possessing a biological agent with intent to use as a weapon.
Everett Dutschke has links to Paul Kevin Curtis, the 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.
Tupelo Police Chief Tony Carleton said Everett Dutschke was taken into custody without incident at 01:00 on Saturday. His home had been under surveillance since Friday afternoon.
A law enforcement official told WTVA that Everett Dutschke was being held at the Lafayette County Detention Center.
Everett Dutschke from Mississippi has been arrested and charged in connection with the sending of letters containing ricin to President Barack Obama, Senator Roger Wicker and Judge Sadie Holland
The US Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Mississippi said in a press release that Everett 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 Everett 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 Everett 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 Everett Dutschke after charges were dropped on Tuesday against Paul Kevin Curtis, a local Elvis impersonator.
A search of Paul Kevin Curtis’ home in nearby Corinth revealed no evidence to suggest he had sent the ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama, Senator Roger Wicker and Mississippi Judge Sadie Holland, officials said.
Hal Neilson, a lawyer for Paul Kevin Curtis, said Everett Dutschke’s name had been submitted on a list of people who might have had a reason to hurt his client.
Paul Kevin Curtis said he had worked with Everett 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. Everett Dutschke decided not to publish the material, Paul Kevin Curtis added.
But Everett Dutschke told the Associated Press that he did not know Paul Kevin Curtis well, and that the last time they had contact was in 2010.
Judge Sadie Holland’s family is reported to have confronted Everett 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. Steve Holland said Everett Dutschke had made a derogatory speech about the Holland family, and that his mother had forced him to apologize.
Everett Dutschke said Steve Holland had exaggerated the incident, telling AP: “Everybody loves Sadie, including me.”
He is also reported to know Senator Roger Wicker.
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Ricin suspect Paul Kevin Curtis has been released from jail as the US authorities have dropped the charges against the Mississippi man accused of sending letters poisoned with ricin to President Barack Obama and Senator Roger Wicker.
Paul Kevin Curtis was freed on Tuesday after prosecutors revealed the investigation had uncovered “new information”.
The letters addressed to Barack Obama and Republican Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker tested positive for the presence of the lethal toxin this month.
Meanwhile, investigators in the case are searching the home of another man.
Paul Kevin Curtis was arrested last week at his home in the town of Corinth, Mississippi and charged with sending letters to Barack Obama, Roger Wicker and a judge from Lee County.
But on Monday authorities searched Paul Kevin 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.
Ricin suspect Paul Kevin Curtis has been released from jail as the US authorities have dropped the charges against him
In a news conference outside the courthouse on Tuesday, Paul Kevin Curtis thanked his family, friends, Jesus, Senator Roger Wicker and President Barack Obama.
Referring to investigators’ questions, he said: “I thought they said rice and I said, <<I don’t even eat rice>>.”
Paul Kevin Curtis, a musician and Elvis impersonator who also said he was a certified reflexologist, added: “I love my country and would never do anything to pose a threat to [Barack Obama] or any other US official.
“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 Senator roger Wicker because he had written to the Republican senator and other officials.
Paul Kevin Curtis’ lawyer Christi McCoy, whom 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”.
Christi 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.”
As the case against Paul Kevin 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 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,” Everett 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 Everett Dutschke’s property.
Everett Dutschke said he and Paul Kevin Curtis had had a dispute, cutting off contact in 2010, after he threatened to sue Curtis for saying he was a member of Mensa, a group for people with high IQs.
“I’m a patriotic American,” Everett 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.”
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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The Secret Service has intercepted a letter addressed to President Barack Obama containing a “suspicious” substance.
The service said the letter was identified at a remote facility where White House post is screened.
The letter arrived at the facility on April 16, the same day a letter intended for Senator Roger Wicker tested positive for the lethal toxin ricin.
A spokesman for the Secret Service, which protects the US president and his family, said it was liaising with the Capitol Police and FBI to trace the origins of the letter.
“This facility routinely identifies letters or parcels that require secondary screening or scientific testing before delivery,” Edwin Donovan said.
The Secret Service has intercepted a letter addressed to President Barack Obama containing a “suspicious” substance
ABC are quoting sources saying the letter addressed to Barack Obama has tested positive for ricin but that the contents would be sent to an accredited laboratory for further analysis, as the preliminary results need further verification.
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.
Correspondents say there is a heightened sense of alert in the capital after the deadly bomb attacks at the Boston Marathon but there is no indication so far of any connection between the two incidents.
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A letter posted to Mississippi Republican Senator Roger Wicker at the US Senate has been tested positive for the lethal toxin ricin or another poisonous substance, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said.
The letter was intercepted at a centre handling post for the Capitol in Washington DC, US media report.
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.
Roger Wicker issued a statement on Tuesday acknowledging the letter.
“This matter is part of an ongoing investigation by the United States Capitol Police and FBI,” he said.
“I want to thank our law enforcement officials for their hard work and diligence in keeping those of us who work in the Capitol complex safe.”
An official quoted by AP news agency said two tests had shown positive for ricin but the results are not deemed conclusive without further testing.
A letter posted to Mississippi Republican Senator Roger Wicker at the US Senate has been tested positive for the lethal toxin ricin or another poisonous substance
The letter was detected during a routine inspection of mail and did not reach the US Capitol or Senator Roger Wicker’s office, a Senate leadership aide was quoted as saying.
Senators were informed of the letter at a closed-door briefing by FBI Director Robert Mueller and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano about the Boston Marathon bombings, the aide added.
There is a heightened sense of alert in the US capital after the attacks in Boston but there is no indication so far of any connection between the two incidents.
It is also not clear why the letter was sent to Senator Roger Wicker.
The Senate’s chief security office told Reuters: “The exterior marking on the envelope in this case was not outwardly suspicious, but it was postmarked from Memphis, Tennessee.”
All mail sent to members of Congress has been screened off-site since letters laced with anthrax were sent to Capitol Hill in 2001.
In 2004, three Senate office buildings were shut after tests found ricin in letters that had been sent to the Senate majority leader’s office.
Ricin was the poison used for the infamous murder of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov in September 1978.
Georgi Markov was waiting at a bus stop near Waterloo Bridge, London, when a stranger jabbed him in the leg with an umbrella.
The umbrella injected a tiny ricin-filled pellet into Georgi Markov’s leg and he died three days later in hospital.
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
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