Arrest made in ricin letter cases
Federal authorities made an arrest in the investigation of a
letter that initially tested positive for the toxic substance ricin
addressed to President Barack Obama.
Kenneth Curtis, reportedly of Tupelo, Miss., was arrested Wednesday according to a law enforcement source.
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The AP and CNN reported Wednesday that the letters sent to Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) were the same: “To see a wrong is not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance. I am KC and I approve this message.”
Obama was briefed Tuesday night and again Wednesday morning on the letters, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.
The Secret Service is working with the Capitol Police and the FBI to investigate the letter sent to the president.
The FBI said that field and preliminary tests can “produce inconsistent results.”
“Only a full analysis performed at an accredited laboratory can determine the presence of a biological agent such as ricin. Those tests are currently being conducted and generally take 24 to 48 hours.”
There is no indication of a connection between the ricin letters and the Boston Marathon attack Monday, the FBI said, but nerves were frayed on Capitol Hill as officers on Wednesday morning closed off parts of two Senate office buildings to test suspicious envelopes delivered to the offices of Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).
(Also on POLITICO: What is Ricin?)
Tests on the the suspicious envelopes have come up negative and all areas of the buildings reopened around 12:45 p.m.
Senate business — including the votes on gun control legislation scheduled for 4 p.m. — was not postponed and hearings continued during the investigation.
Kenneth Curtis, reportedly of Tupelo, Miss., was arrested Wednesday according to a law enforcement source.
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According to the FBI, a letter addressed to the White
House containing a “granular substance” that preliminarily tested
positive for ricin was intercepted at an off-site facility. The letter
was “was immediately quarantined by U.S. Secret Service personnel, and a
coordinated investigation with the FBI was initiated.”
(Also on POLITICO: Letter with ricin sent to Wicker)The AP and CNN reported Wednesday that the letters sent to Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) were the same: “To see a wrong is not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance. I am KC and I approve this message.”
Obama was briefed Tuesday night and again Wednesday morning on the letters, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.
The Secret Service is working with the Capitol Police and the FBI to investigate the letter sent to the president.
The FBI said that field and preliminary tests can “produce inconsistent results.”
“Only a full analysis performed at an accredited laboratory can determine the presence of a biological agent such as ricin. Those tests are currently being conducted and generally take 24 to 48 hours.”
There is no indication of a connection between the ricin letters and the Boston Marathon attack Monday, the FBI said, but nerves were frayed on Capitol Hill as officers on Wednesday morning closed off parts of two Senate office buildings to test suspicious envelopes delivered to the offices of Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.).
(Also on POLITICO: What is Ricin?)
Tests on the the suspicious envelopes have come up negative and all areas of the buildings reopened around 12:45 p.m.
Senate business — including the votes on gun control legislation scheduled for 4 p.m. — was not postponed and hearings continued during the investigation.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/obama-suspicious-substance-letter-90209.html#ixzz2Qloa5uph
A Capitol Police officer told POLITICO that a person delivering three envelopes was detained on the first floor of the Hart Building.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, police investigating suspicious packages on the Hill has become almost a routine occurrence.
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Also Wednesday, the office of Sen. Carl Levin
(D-Mich.) announced that a staffer at a regional office in Saginaw,
Mich., received a “suspicious-looking letter.” In a statement out later
Wednesday, Levin said law enforcement officers were testing the
suspicious letter, and the “staffer who discovered the letter is being
kept overnight at a local hospital for precautionary reasons but has no
symptoms.” Levin said they did not expect results of the tests on the
letter until Wednesday night at the earliest and possibly Thursday.
Capitol Police mobilized to shut down portions of two Senate
buildings — a hallway in Russell and the first and third floors of the
Hart Office Building.In Russell, the scene was calmer as police closed only one hallway leading to the office of Shelby. Even as the bomb squad arrived to work behind a wood partition in the hallway, visitors and schoolchildren shuffled in and out of the building as all the entrances remained open.
In Hart, staffers and guests were held inside offices and hearing rooms, unable to move around some parts of the building. Police shut down entrances to the building and the atrium, which stretches up to 90 feet and can be seen from offices that surround it. A loudspeaker announced that police were investigating on the first and third floors.
Claire Demorest of Seattle was entering Hart when police shut down the building.
“We heard someone behind us right after we walked in say, ‘Shut down the doors,’” Demorest said. “I think we were one of the last people to come in.”
Demorest, who with her husband and daughter were headed to meet with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said the room where they were meeting was soon locked down, so they were able to get more face time than planned with their senator.
The Demorests also were some of the first to exit Hart after police announced the all-clear through the building sound system, prompting a flock of more than 20 reporters and photographers to swarm them before they could reach the street.
After the all-clear was given, senators and staffers returned to their offices. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said he had been away for the time of the lockdown, but that his staff had been stuck in the seventh-floor office.
Staffers unable to return to their offices sat on ledges along the outside of the building.
After it appeared clear, the press assembled on a sidewalk outside Hart to await the official word from Capitol Police, remarking at times that the incident was a vivid reminder of the anthrax scare in 2001. Tourists strolling by snapped pictures of the line of cameras and, at one point, a tour bus slowed as it rolled by the scene.
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