A Mississippi man was arrested by federal agents for sending a letter laced with the poison ricin, to President Obama. The Secret Service said the letter was similar to the one that was also sent to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), and a Mississippi justice official.
According to the L.A. Times, U.S. Marshals and the Federal Bureau of Investigation report that Paul Kevin Curtis of Corinth, Miss. was taken into custody shortly after 5 p.m.
The FBI said that the poisonous letters had nothing to do with the Boston Marathon bombing, even though a bomb squad was deployed to ensure that an explosion was not a concern. Curtis was arrested at his Mississippi home about 100 miles from Memphis.
Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan said that the letter was detected at an off-site screening facility under the protection of the Secret Service:
“This facility routinely identifies letters or parcels that require secondary screening or scientific testing before delivery,” the Secret Service said in a statement. “The Secret Service White House mail screening facility is a remote facility, not located near the White House complex, that all White House mail goes through.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) told the press in a statement that ricin is a deadly poison that works on the body in the following way:
“Ricin works by getting inside the cells of a person’s body and preventing the cells from making the proteins they need. Without the proteins, cells die. Eventually this is harmful to the whole body, and death may occur.” Only a small amount of ricin needs to be ingested for it to be deadly.
