The
FBI arrested a Mississippi man in connection with letters sent to President
Barack Obama and two other officials believed to contain the deadly poison
ricin, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Paul Curtis was arrested at
his home in Corinth, Mississippi. He is “believed to be responsible for the
mailings of the three letters sent through the U.S. Postal Inspection Service
which contained a granular substance that preliminarily tested positive for
ricin,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
The letters were addressed
to a U.S. senator, the White House and a Mississippi justice official, the
statement said.
The ricin poison scare hit
Washington after bombings at the Boston Marathon killed three people and
injured 176 on Monday but the FBI said there was no indication the incidents
were connected. The envelope sent to Mr. Obama was received at a mail-screening
facility outside the White House and was immediately quarantined. Preliminary
tests showed it contained the deadly poison ricin, the FBI said
Washington was put on edge
on Tuesday when news emerged that authorities had intercepted a letter sent to
Republican Senator, Roger Wicker of Mississippi that had initially tested
positive for ricin.
Following the arrest,
Wicker issued a statement thanking the FBI and Capitol Police “for their
professionalism and decisive action in keeping our family and members of staff
safe from harm.”
Earlier on Wednesday, a
flurry of reports of suspicious letters and packages rattled the U.S. capital
and caused the temporary evacuation of parts of two Senate buildings. Most of
the reports quickly proved to be false alarms and business was only temporarily
disrupted on Capitol Hill.
The letters to Obama and
Wicker, which had identical language, included the phrase, “To see a wrong and
not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance.” They were
signed, “I am KC and I approve this message,” according to an FBI operations
bulletin.
Two law enforcement sources
said investigators believed the man arrested was the same person as Kevin
Curtis, who they say has posted rants on the Internet and performed as an
entertainer and Elvis Presley impersonator. In an online comment on an Elvis
blog post in 2007, Kevin Curtis complained that several Elvis contests in
several states were rigged with hosts and judges getting kick-backs. The
signature was read, “This is Kevin Curtis and I approve this message.”
Northern District
Mississippi Public Service Commissioner, Brandon Presley, who said he was
related to Elvis Presley, said that Curtis contacted him via Facebook late on
Sunday asking him if he was a relative of the late rock singer. Mr. Presley
said he did not know Curtis.
“I don’t know if he’s
fixated on Elvis or Elvis’ family or what,” he said. “We’ve been told by the
authorities to be very cautious with our mail for the next few days.”
The envelopes believed to
contain ricin both bore postmarks from Memphis, Tennessee, and were dated April
8. Memphis Mayor, A.C. Wharton, noted in a statement, however, that it did not
mean the letters originated in that city. An aide to Mr. Wharton said many
areas near Memphis were included in its postmark – including some in neighbouring
Northern Mississippi, Mr. Wicker’s state.
For Washingtonians, the
situation was an unsettling reminder of events of nearly 12 years ago when
letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to the Washington offices of two
senators and to media outlets in New York and Florida, not long after the
September 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington.
The FBI said White House
operations were not affected by the latest scare. It noted that filters at a
second government mail-screening facility had preliminarily tested positive for
ricin this morning and other mails from that facility were also being tested.
The tests were being conducted at Fort Detrick, in Frederick, Maryland, a
government source said.
White House spokesman, Jay
Carney, said Mr. Obama had been briefed on the situation.
Ricin is a lethal poison
found naturally in castor beans but it takes a deliberate act to convert it
into a biological weapon. It can cause death within 36 to 72 hours from
exposure to an amount as small as a pinhead. No known antidote exists.
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