2 Georgia men get 10 years in federal prison for ricin plot

GAINESVILLE, Ga., Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Two Georgia men convicted of planning to use the deadly poison ricin to attack the federal government were sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.

Ray Adams, 58, apologized for his role in the plot. His co-defendant, Samuel Crump, maintained his innocence.

"The crime charged here is pretty darn serious," U.S. District Judge Richard W. Story told Crump and Adams."You guys are not too old to do things and to hurt people but you're old enough to know better."

Prosecutors requested 20-year sentences. Two members of the Militia of Georgia who pleaded guilty last year, Frederick Thomas, 76, and Dan Roberts, 69, to planning to buy guns and explosives recieved five-year terms.

Ricin is a deadly poison manufactured from castor oil seeds. Adams and Crump were convicted of planning to use the poison in federal buildings in Washington and in Atlanta, Gainesville and other Georgia cities and in public places like highway rest stops.

Prosecutors said Adams, Crump, Thomas and Roberts did much of their planning at a Waffle House and a Shoney's restaurant in Toccoa, Ga.

At Friday's hearing, both Adams and Crump said they would not have carried out their plans.

"I get angry at the government sometimes, but no more than anyone else," Adams said.

Story agreed with the two men that they would have been unlikely to be successful. But he said that did not mean they were not serious about trying to cause harm.