Crime & Safety

Texas Woman Charged in Attempt To Poison Bloomberg, Obama

Woman arrested after allegedly lacing letters with deadly poison.

By Matthew Hampton

A Texas woman was arrested Friday by federal agents and charged with mailing a threatening communication for sending letters laced with poison to President Barack Obama and Mayor Michael Bloomberg last month, according to published reports.

The woman, Sharon Richardson, was arrested in Mt. Pleasant, Texas after the letters were intercepted at a postal sorting facility last month. Several police officers who handled the letters showed symptoms of illness, according to the New York Times, though the substance found was not as dangerous as ricin found in previous unrelated incidents.

An additional letter was mailed to the director of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group Bloomberg helped create and actively engages with. 

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly thanked the NYPD's Joint Terrorism Task Force, who assisted the FBI in making the arrest.

"Fortunately, neither Mayor Bloomberg, President Obama, the director of the Mayors Committee Against Illegal Guns, nor those who processed the ricin-laced mail incurred serious illness or injury, in part because of safety measures already in place," Kelly said in a statement.


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