"Walking Dead" Actress, Shannon Richardson, Arrested in Obama-Bloomberg Ricin Case
Reuters
Friday, June 07, 2013


An actress has been arrested on suspicion of sending ricin-laced letters to U.S. President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the eastern district of Texas said on Friday.

The woman is Shannon Rogers Guess Richardson, of New Boston, Texas, who had previously told FBI officials that her husband was responsible for sending the letters, said Davilyn Walston, the spokeswoman.



The letters, which were anonymous and sent last month, referenced the U.S. debate on gun control. A third letter, also containing ricin was sent to the director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group founded by Bloomberg that lobbies for stricter gun laws.

The 36-year-old has appeared in small television roles on “The Vampire Diaries” and “The Walking Dead".

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/06/07/walking-dead-actress-shannon-richardson-arrested-in-obama-bloomberg-ricin-case

Obama Ricin Letters: Shannon Richardson, Texas Woman, Indicted for Threatening Mailings
by DANNY ROBBINS - AP
06/28/13


A Texas woman was indicted Friday on charges that she sent threatening, ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in an attempt to frame her estranged husband.

The federal indictment charges Shannon Richardson, 35, with two counts of mailing a threatening communication and one count of making a threat against the president of the United States.





Richardson, an actress from New Boston, Texas, was arrested June 7. She is accused of sending the threatening letters in May to Obama, Bloomberg and a third man who heads the mayor's gun-control group.

"What's in this letter is nothing compared to what I've got in store for you, Mr. President," the letter to Obama said.

If convicted, Richardson faces up to five years in prison on each charge.





Richardson's attorney, Tonda Curry, said her client will plead not guilty. Although federal investigators say Richardson has admitted mailing the letters, Curry noted that the government must prove Richardson had "the requisite mental state" to make her actions a crime.

Curry said prosecutors have told her they are considering additional charges for the manufacture or possession of a biological agent.

"I'm hopeful that the counter-terrorism task force wouldn't even approve that charge, because it's clear in this case that whatever was done was not done for the purpose of hurting the president, the mayor or anyone else," said Curry, noting that high-ranking public officials typically don't open their own mail.





Davilyn Walston, the spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in the eastern district of Texas, said she couldn't comment on the specifics of the Richardson investigation, but she said there's always a possibility of a superseding indictment in every case.

Authorities have determined that the letters were mailed from New Boston, about 150 miles northeast of Dallas, or nearby Texarkana and postmarked in Shreveport, La.





The government has accused Richardson of mailing the letters and trying to pin the crime on Nathan Richardson, whom she married in 2011. He filed for divorce earlier this month and told the Texarkana Gazette he contemplated divorce last year but reconsidered when the relationship seemed to improve.

The marriage was at least the third for Shannon Richardson, and she has five children ranging in age from 4 to 19 from other relationships, according to Nathan Richardson's attorney, John Delk.





Delk said Friday that his client has been allowed to return to the couple's home in New Boston, which was quarantined after it was searched by FBI agents wearing hazardous material suits.

"He's starting to get his life back in order, and he's still cooperating fully with the investigators, answering any questions they may have and providing any evidence they may need," Delk said.

The children from Shannon Richardson's previous relationships are now in Georgia with Richardson's second husband, Delk said.





According to an FBI affidavit, Richardson first contacted authorities to implicate her husband in the scheme. But she failed a polygraph exam and investigators found inconsistencies in her story, the document alleges.

Richardson, who has had minor television and film roles under the name Shannon Guess, later admitted she mailed the letters but maintained that her husband made her do it, according to the affidavit.





Richardson, who is six months pregnant, has been in the Titus County jail since her arrest but is due to be transferred to a federal prison for a psychological exam.

A federal judge last week ordered Richardson to undergo the exam after Curry requested it, saying her client had displayed "a pattern of behavior" that calls into question whether she could assist in her defense.

"The fact that she's in jail while she's pregnant, the possibility of having to give birth to her child while in custody, not having her own doctor – all those things are contributing to her mental state," Curry said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/28/obama-ricin-letters_n_3516852.html

Texas Woman Admits To Sending Ricin to Obama
by NOMAAN MERCHANT
12/10/13


A Texas woman has pleaded guilty to sending ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg. Shannon Guess Richardson entered her guilty plea Tuesday in Texarkana, Texas.

Her attorney, Tonda Curry, has said the plea deal caps any prison sentence at 18 years. Curry said Richardson was ready to admit her role in sending toxic letters to Obama, Bloomberg and the head of Bloomberg's pro-gun control group.



Prosecutors say that before her arrest in June, Richardson tried to frame her now-estranged husband for mailing the letters containing ricin, a powdery substance that can cause respiratory failure if inhaled.

Richardson has had minor roles in the television series "The Walking Dead" and the movie The Blind Side.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/10/texas-ricin-obama_n_4420234.html

Actress Who Sent Ricin-Laced Letters to President Obama, N.Y.C. Mayor Gets 18 Years in Prison
7/16/14
by The Associated Press


A Texas actress who sent ricin-laced letters to President Barack Obama and the New York mayor then tried to blame the crime on her soon-to-be ex-husband was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Wednesday.

A federal judge gave Shannon Guess Richardson, 36, the maximum sentence under her plea deal on a federal charge of possessing and producing a biological toxin. Richardson was also ordered to pay restitution. She had pleaded guilty to the charge in December.

"I never intended for anybody to be hurt," she told the court, adding later, "I'm not a bad person; I don't have it in me to hurt anyone."





Richardson, who had minor acting roles in film and television, said she thought security measures would prevent anyone from opening the letters addressed to Obama and the now-former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Prosecutors say Richardson mailed three letters from New Boston, outside Texarkana, then went to police and claimed that her estranged husband had done it. She was arrested last June after authorities said she tried to implicate her husband, who had filed for divorce.

Prosecutors say investigators noted inconsistencies in Richardson's statements and later learned that she had purchased materials online to produce ricin, a toxin that can cause respiratory failure if inhaled.





She acknowledged in a signed plea agreement that she ordered castor beans online and learned how to process them into a substance used to make ricin. She obtained an email address, a PayPal shopping account and a post office box in her husband's name without his knowledge, according to the document.

On the morning of May 20, 2013, she said she waited for her husband Nathan Richardson 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," she said in the document. At the time, Glaze was director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Bloomberg's group advocating for tougher gun control.





The letter to Obama read, "What's in this letter is nothing compared to what ive got in store for you mr president," according to the document. "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."

After mailing the letters, she admitted to trying to blame her husband and lying to authorities.

Richardson performed 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.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/actress-who-sent-ricin-laced-719079