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Texas woman charged with mailing documents to Obama, Texas governor

By Allen Cone
President Barack Obama appears next to Texas Governor-elect Greg Abbott in the Oval Office of the White House on on December 5, 2014. A Texas woman has been accused of mailing homemade explosives to them in 2016. File photo by Kevin Dietsch
President Barack Obama appears next to Texas Governor-elect Greg Abbott in the Oval Office of the White House on on December 5, 2014. A Texas woman has been accused of mailing homemade explosives to them in 2016. File photo by Kevin Dietsch | License Photo

Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Texas woman has been accused of mailing explosives in 2016 to former President Barack Obama, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Social Security Administration Commissioner Carolyn Colvin.

Julia Poff, 46, mailed the documents on Oct. 12, 2016, according to a six-count indictment filed Tuesday in Waller County, which is 54 miles northwest of Houston. U.S. Magistrate Judge Frances H. Stacy signed the grand jury's indictment Friday and denied bail for Poff, citing a "serious risk that the defendant will flee."

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Federal investigators said they connected Poff to the packages using pieces of the shipping labels. They also matched cat hair found in the box mailed to President Obama with her cat.

Poff allegedly put together an explosive with black powder and pyrotechnic powder, then slipped it in the mail to governor.

Abbott opened the package but it failed to explode because he didn't open it right, the indictment said. If opened correctly, documents say "it could've caused severe burns and death."

She was upset with Abbott because she was not receiving support from her former husband.

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Poff mailed a similar package to Obama because, according to court documents, "she did not like the president," but it never made it to him after it was detected in screening.

A third package was sent to the Social Security Administration in Maryland after she was denied benefits.

The charges Poff has received include Injurious Articles as Nonmailable and Transportation of Explosives with the Intent to Kill and Injure for mailing the explosives, in addition to charges of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Fraud and False Declaration in Bankruptcy.

Poff has been evicted from her home numerous times and was previously convicted of felony fraud.

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