WASHINGTON: Federal pro-secutors yesterday filed criminal charges against Paul Kevin Curtis, the Mississippi man arrested a day earlier in the FBI’s investigation of letters believed to have contained the deadly poison ricin.
A criminal complaint filed in US District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi charges Curtis45, of Corinth, with threatening to harm US President Barack Obama and making other threats through the Postal Service.
Three letters believed to contain ricin were addressed to a US senator, the White House and a Mississippi official, the FBI said. An affidavit from the FBI and the Secret Service filed in court yesterday said that all three letters contained the same eight-line message.
“Maybe I have your attention now / Even if that means someone must die,” the letters said in part, according to the affidavit. The letters ended, “I am KC and I approve this message.”
The initials “KC” led law enforcement to ask the staff of the US senator, Republican Roger Wicker of Mississippi, about any constituents with those initials, and the investigation then focused on Curtis, the affidavit said.
The letters were undergoing more extensive testing.
Reuters
