SEATTLE, April 13 (UPI) -- An autistic man from the Seattle, Wash., area has been charged by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force with possession of the deadly poison ricin.
Robert Alberg, 37, is being held pending a hearing Thursday in U.S. District Court, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported Tuesday.
Federal criminal justice sources told the newspaper they do not believe Alberg had political motivations for having the ricin and that he had no plans to use it.
The criminal investigation began in November when an employee of the Sheffield Seed Co. in Locke, N.Y., tipped the FBI in New York that Alberg had ordered 5 pounds of castor seeds. The seeds are the key ingredient in making ricin.
A family member said Alberg had been buying various chemicals for months and had them sent to his apartment by mail.
The seeds seized in Friday's raid could have been turned into enough ricin to kill 200 people, according to a federal criminal justice source.
