OXFORD, Miss., June 3 (UPI) -- A Mississippi man was indicted Monday on charges he stockpiled ricin and sent threatening letters laced with it to President Obama, a senator and a judge.
James Everett Dutschke, 41, of Tupelo, was named in a five-count indictment handed up by a federal grand jury in Mississippi.
Dutschke is charged with one count of producing and possessing the toxin for use as a weapon, one count each of threatening Obama, Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Lee County Judge Sadie Holland by mail, and one count of falsifying, concealing and covering up material facts to impede the investigation of threatening letters containing ricin in an effort to make it appear someone else had sent them.
Dutschke is expected to appear in federal court in Oxford, Miss., Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge S. Allan Alexander.
The letters allegedly sent by Dutschke were intercepted in mid- and late April. The FBI said ricin was found on a coffee grinder and other items Dutschke discarded.
Police earlier had arrested Paul Kevin Curtis of Corinth, Miss. He denied sending the letters and accused Dutschke of framing him.
An affidavit filed at the time said Curtis and Dutschke "have known each other for several years and have had a contentious personal relationship which has manifested itself in email traffic and social media postings."
The FBI said at the time its agents interviewed a witness who said Dutschke had said years ago he could manufacture a deadly "poison" he could place in envelopes and send to elected officials.
The document stated Dutschke once had a civil case dismissed by Holland and lost a state legislative race to her son in 2007.
