Shannon Richardson Sentenced to Federal Prison for Ricin Letters to President Obama

In December 2013, actress and mother of 6 Shannon Richardson pleaded guilty to federal charges for sending ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

As part of a plea deal, the 36-year-old actress was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the ricin letters. She pleaded guilty to one count of developing, producing, possessing and transferring a biological agent for use as a weapon.

Richardson allegedly purchased castor beans online and learned how to process them into ricin, which is a potent neurotoxin. She then mailed the letters to the president and the New York mayor to implicate her estranged husband, Nathan Richardson, in a terrorist plot, as revenge when he filed for divorce.

She also obtained an email address, PO Box, and Paypal account in her ex-husband’s name, without his consent, but the charge was dropped as part of her plea deal.

On the morning of May 20th, Richardson waited for her husband to go to work. “After he left the house, I printed the mailing labels for President Barack Obama, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Mark Glaze with The Raben Group,” Richardson said in the document. Glaze is director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Bloomberg’s group advocating for tougher gun control. She drove from her home in New Boston to Texarkana to mail one of the ricin letters, then to Shreveport, LA, to implicate her husband to police in Louisiana.

“What’s in this letter is nothing compared to what ive got in store for you mr president,” read the letter to Obama. “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.”

Richardson is a former Dallas beauty queen, and has had bit parts in The Walking Dead, The Vampire Diaries, All My Children, Franklin & Bash, and The Blind Side.

“I never intended for anybody to be hurt,” Richardson said at her Wednesday, July 16th hearing. “I’m not a bad person. I don’t have it in me to hurt anyone.”

Judge Michael Schneider said that Richardson’s actions “put many lives in danger and threatened public officials at the highest level of government. The defendant claims that she did not intend to harm anyone, but certainly her actions could have had grave consequences.”

There is no current antidote for ricin poisoning.

Ricin Letters are Becoming More Frequent

Federal authorities say that, although ricin-laced letters were a sporadic problem for many years, recently, several copycat crimes have cropped up. They believe it is because manufacturing techniques have made extracting the poison much easier.

Ricin is a highly toxic, naturally occurring carbohydrate-binding protein. Whether inhaled, injected, or ingested, the poison inhibits protein synthesis. If untreated, death occurs within 3 to 5 days after exposure.

Three recent incidents of ricin letters led federal investigators on a wild chase through the postal system to several suspects, and eventually to Richardson. The letters had been mailed from Shreveport, Louisiana, last month.

Indictment for Terrorism or Other Federal Charges in South Carolina

Our federal criminal defense lawyers handle federal charges involving:

• Fraudulent insurance claims
• Bond issuances and investment schemes
• Falsifying loan applications
• Check fraud schemes
• Bribes or kickbacks
• False advertising or misrepresentation in sales transactions
• Terrorism
• Murder-for-hire plots

If you have been arrested on federal charges, from RICO charges to terrorism, the attorneys at the Strom Law Firm can help. We offer free, confidential consultations so you can discuss the facts of your case with impunity. Contact us today.803.252.4800.