DALLAS, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- A Texas woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to sending ricin-laced letters to the White House, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and a gun control advocate.
Shannon Guess Richardson, 35, of Texarkana, Texas, pleaded guilty in federal court in Dallas to possession of a toxin for use as a weapon in a plea deal that's expected to cap her prison sentence at 18 years, prosecutors said.
As part of the plea deal, the Justice Department said in a statement Tuesday Richardson bought castor bean seeds and sodium hydroxide among other items with the intent of creating ricin, a deadly nerve agent, KXAS-TV, Dallas, reported.
She had intended to frame her now estranged husband for the letters and, after sending them in April, told Shreveport, La., police he was behind the mailings. Police checked into the claims and arrested Richardson in June.
Richardson is an actress who has had minor rolls in the television show "The Walking Dead" and the film "The Blind Side."
A sentencing date was not set immediately.
