A former actress pleaded guilty Tuesday to sending ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, under a deal that her attorney has said would cap prison time at 18 years and then five years of supervised release.
Shannon Guess Richardson entered her plea in federal court in Texarkana, Texas, to a federal charge of possessing and producing a biological toxin.
Richardson was arrested in June after authorities said she tried to implicate her ex-husband, Nathan Richardson, after he had filed for divorce. Prosecutors say Shannon Richardson mailed three letters, one each to Obama, Bloomberg and Mark Glaze, the director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group founded by Bloomberg that lobbies for stricter gun laws.
She then went to police and claimed that her husband had done it.
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.
The letter to Obama, according to a federal indictment, said: “What’s in this letter is nothing compared to what ive got in store for you mr president.”
The letter went on: “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,” according to court documents.
Prosecutors say investigators noted inconsistencies in Richardson’s statements and later learned that she had purchased materials online to produce ricin. The highly toxic substance can cause respiratory failure if inhaled. It is found naturally in castor beans, but it takes a deliberate act to manufacture it and use it to poison people, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Exposure to even a small amount of ricin can cause death and no known antidote exists.
Richardson, 35, has had minor roles in the television series “The Walking Dead” and the movie “The Blind Side.” She also is the mother of six children — including one born prematurely while she was in custody earlier this year.
Notice of the plea deal was filed last month in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
Her attorney, Tonda Curry, said then that she and prosecutors agreed to a deal capping Richardson’s sentence at 18 years. Prosecutors say Richardson faces life in prison for the charge to which she pleaded guilty.
A federal judge ultimately will sentence Richardson at a later hearing, which has not yet been scheduled.
“Shannon is anxious to admit her role in ordering the components to make the ricin, her role in the letters that contained the ricin, and to tell the government who else was involved in those offenses,” Curry said.
Curry did not say more about Richardson’s possible motives or whom she might name.
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