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| F.B.I. Arrest Utah Man in Ricin Scare at Pentagon | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The F.B.I. on Wednesday arrested a Navy veteran suspected of sending two envelopes to the Pentagon this week that contained raw materials for the deadly poison ricin. The man, William Clyde Allen III, was detained at a home in Logan, Utah. | |
| Two envelopes addressed to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and to the chief of the United States Navy, Adm. John Richardson, set off alarms in a mail screening facility outside the Pentagon on Monday. No one was injured. | |
| Defense officials had suspected that the letters contained ricin, but a Pentagon spokeswoman said on Wednesday that they actually contained castor beans, the raw material from which ricin is made. She said the F.B.I. was investigating. | Defense officials had suspected that the letters contained ricin, but a Pentagon spokeswoman said on Wednesday that they actually contained castor beans, the raw material from which ricin is made. She said the F.B.I. was investigating. |
| Another letter suspected of containing ricin was sent to President Trump at the White House on Monday, but was intercepted by the Secret Service. In a statement, the Secret Service said no one was injured. | |
| F.B.I. agents raided a single-family house in Logan, about 80 miles north of Salt Lake City, taking into custody a man described in local news reports as a Navy veteran. Agents closed down a block of North 200th Street, a quiet road with small homes and a large Mormon church. | F.B.I. agents raided a single-family house in Logan, about 80 miles north of Salt Lake City, taking into custody a man described in local news reports as a Navy veteran. Agents closed down a block of North 200th Street, a quiet road with small homes and a large Mormon church. |
| The F.B.I. did not respond to requests for comment, but told The Herald Journal of Logan that the house posed no risk to the public. | The F.B.I. did not respond to requests for comment, but told The Herald Journal of Logan that the house posed no risk to the public. |
| Castor beans, used to make castor oil, pose little danger, but refined ricin, extracted from mashed castor beans, is so toxic that ingesting or inhaling a few grains can be fatal. During World War I, the United States investigated developing a chemical weapon using clouds of ricin dust. | |
| A Justice Department spokeswoman in Salt Lake City said federal prosecutors had authorized a probable-cause arrest for Mr. Allen, 39. Prosecutors have 48 hours to file charges. | |
| Mr. Allen served in the Navy from 1998 to 2002 as a low-ranking damage-control fireman apprentice on supply and support ships, Navy officials told Military Times. Nothing in his record indicates he served in combat. | |
| A Facebook account matching Mr. Allen’s name and location contained posts about Christianity and the golden ratio, but also a post suggesting he had watched online videos about extracting cyanide from apple seeds. | |
| One of the account’s latest posts, on Tuesday evening, stated, “The ninety-nine percent are just a bunch of Zero’$.” |